Q. Okay then - so what is Clocktower?
A. That is Vatican-2. It is the happy institution that houses the rest of the ChemWatch's finely-tuned apparatus and dedicated team of professionals.

Q. Is ChemWatch always available to answer any questions I have about the program and its operation?
A. Yes. There is a 24 hour contact number for chemical emergencies only (within Australia, 1800 039 008, everywhere else, +800 CHEMCALL (+800 24362255)).
There are people available to help with technical problems over the phone (+61 3 9572 4700) from eight AM to eight PM most days, and we will also take queries by fax (+61 3 9572 4777) and email (chemwatch@chemwatch.net).
When you are reporting a problem, try to have as much information on hand as possible about what you were doing when the problem occurred, what happened when things went wrong and what any specific error messages said.

Q. Can I sign up for a training course to tell me how to get the most out of my ChemWatch program?
A. Certainly. Fill out the form provided on the documentation screen and fax it to ChemWatch and our trainers will contact you to organise the details.

Q. Does ChemWatch have a web site?
A. Yes. Our web site that includes a demonstration of the web program is at http://www.chemwatch.net/
There are two sites - one that requires Flash and one that does not. You can also see us at
www.galleriachemica.net
www.msdscollection.net and
www.authorite.net

Q. Does ChemWatch have a way I can download tools, fixes and updates from an ftp site?
A. Yes. It is suggested you get our updates directly from our Mirror site very kindly provided by Planet Mirror.
This will have the fastest access to worldwide customers.
It is available by HTTP and FTP and is synchronised daily with the ChemWatch server.
http://planetmirror.com/pub/chemwatch/
ftp://planetmirror.com/pub/chemwatch/

There will be:
- updated program patches and bug-fixes
- tools not included in the most recent CD release
- docs for miscellanous documentation and it's updates.
- information and updates pertaining to the ChemWatch for the Web.

The main ChemWatch FTP server is Ftp://ftp.chemwatch.net/pub/chemwatch/
It is on a slower link than the Planetmirror site, so we recommend you try the mirror first and then only use this server if you can't get access to the mirror. This site will only be, at most, twenty-four hours in advance of the mirror.

Q. What other online information services are available?
A. There are four email lists that you can join. Send mail to one of the following addresses to subscribe -

ChemWatch-Announce: Announcements from ChemWatch about upcoming features, events, updates etc.
Subscription address: ChemAnnounce-reqest@chemwatch.net

ChemWatch-Technical: Technical discussion group, service pack and new technical features.
Subscription address: ChemTech-reqest@chemwatch.net

ChemWatch-Discussion: General ChemWatch discussion group.
Subscription address: ChemDiscuss-reqest@chemwatch.net

ChemWatch-Bulletin: Bulletin board weekly updates.
Subscription address: ChemBulletin-reqest@chemwatch.net

To subscribe to any of these, send email to the subscription address with the word subscribe in the body of
the message. To unsubscribe, send mail to the subscription address with the word unsubscribe in the body of
the message.

Q. Does ChemWatch take and implement suggestions for improvements and new features from its customers?
A. Yes, whereever possible.

Q. What do we use to develop the ChemWatch program?
A. Borland Delphi (currently version 7), Codebase DataBase libraries in FoxPro emulation mode, InstallShield Professional (currently version 6.31), blood, sweat, tears and Indians.

Q. Who uses ChemWatch?
A. ChemWatch is used world-wide by companies everywhere - companies who use chemicals, hospitals, emergency services, manufacturers, chemical and pharmaceutical companies, research facilities, Universities,
Environmental facilities, Defence forces and space associations.

Q. Where are ChemWatch staff representatives to be found?
A. Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia, Singapore, Chicago - New York, Vancouver - Canada, Thailand, Sydney Australia, and headquarters is Caulfield - Victoria, Australia. There are also dedicated staff contactable by international free call +800 CHEMCALL twenty-four hours a day.

Q. Is ChemWatch familiar with the ISO9000 certification?
A. Yes - ChemWatch is now certified ISO 9001 compliant. If you don't believe us, call and sweet-talk our QA manager for the mission statement today.

Q. But wait, isn't there more?
A. ChemWatch also has the following products available:

ChemWatch scanned suppliers MSDS disks:
These disks are issued on a custom list of materials taken either from the list of materials registered for a custom-disk system or from a list of materials that the customer supplies.
A separate charge applies for this product. You receive 2 CD's per year with the scanned documents
(plus set-up program) only on them.

ChemWatch-hosted internet scanned-suppliers MSDS:
This is a web-site which contains only the scanned-suppliers MSDS's. The only people who have the means to access to this site are customers who have registered a password or IP address with us or who are running 2001/2 or later Web systems on their servers. There is an additional charge for this product. If you use the ChemWatch-hosted internet system, they already have access to these scan sheets.

Q. What are the web options?
A. You have two choices of software within either Web-based solution (both ChemWatch-hosted and plain Web).

These are:

ChemWeb:
This consists of a suite of programs that can do Bulletin board, MSDS's, ChemWatch labels
(not custom labels), Scanned suppliers MSDS's, ChemWatch Full Reports, Mini-MSDS's and
ChInA reports. It is not having any new facilities added but is receiving bug-fixes.

ChemWeb Gold:
This consists of a suite of programs that can do more reports and risk assessments and
custom label printing as well. All new features are being developed in ChemWeb Gold only.

Q. What other new and exciting products are in the lab' right now?
A. There are several new and exciting products in the offing amongst which ar:
ChemGold II :
A brand new interface to give much greater power and ease of use to a host of new features

Galleria Chemica:
The reference source which will know everything about materials legislation, structures and much more besides

MSDS Collection:
The worlds largest collection of Supplier's original MSDSs kept automatically up to date for you.

Q. What about arrangements for materials?
A. For each type of ChemWatch solution listed above, there are 4 main types of system available, as follows:

Pure Chemicals: Customer gets access to approximately 35,000 pure chemicals.

Full System: Customer gets access to everything we have got.

Custom System: Customer gets access to chemicals they nominate (their 'own' system) as well as the Pure Chemicals database (their 'full' system).

Custom/Full System: Customers get access to chemicals they nominate (their 'own' system) as well as the
Full System database (their 'full' system).

Q. Do the training courses on using the program expect me to be a computer whiz?
A. No, but you will be struggling if you have never touched a computer before.

Q. Do I have to know how to use the ChemWatch program before doing the Hazardous substances level three course?
A. Yes.

Q. Where is training held?
A. We can come to you or you can come to a session held in a city near you.

Q. Where can I get more information about training?
A. Fill out the training information request form on the ChemWatch documentation and fax it to your nearest ChemWatch representative, or if you do not who they are, send it to ChemWatch HQ (fax number is on the form).

Q. Will it cost me to add new materials to my system?
A. This depends on your maintainance contract. Contact ChemWatch if you do not know the details of your contract.

Q. If I send you details for new substances, when can I see it on my CD.
A. ChemWatch cuts off the database one month before each CD is issued. This means that the database cut off is as follows;

- v1 release is cut off near the end of December in the previous year, in time for a last week of January release.

- v2 release is cut off near the end of March, in time for a last week of April release.

- v3 release is cut off near the end of June, in time for a last week of July release.

- v4 release is cut off near the end of September 1, in time for a last week of October release.

The earlier in the development cycle you send the details, the more likely it is you will see your new
materials on the next database.

Q. I need an MSDS now, what can I do?
A. ChemWatch can sometimes provide both emergency information on substances not currently in our database, and MSDS's same day delivery. If this is not covered in your existing contract, this will cost money. Note that this is separate to the ChemWatch Emergency Line.

Q. What OS's does the main ChemWatch for the Web support?
A. ChemWeb is available in 32-bit Intel binaries only. It will work with web servers running on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, XP and 2K3 and we are advised it also works with Intel platform Windows-based Lotus Notes web servers. We currently are investigating a Linux based version using Borland's Kylix tools.

Q. Are there any issues with IIS6 and ChemWatch?
A. Currently ChemGold doesn't function under IIS6 default setup. We are investigating if there is a configuration problem with the new and enhanced security which is causing this. The work around meantime is
to use Apache 2 which will function with no problems on Win2K3 and earlier systems.

Q. What Mac support is there?
A. There is a cut-down web based program available for the Macintosh that can provide MSDS's and mini-MSDS's.

We recommend you install an Intel server of the current release and you can then access this from all platforms.

You can also negotiate a contract to access one of the ChemWatch servers available across the internet.

Q. Does ChemWatch do Application Service Providing (ASP)?
A. You can negotiate a contract to access one of the ChemWatch Application servers available across the internet - this requires live internet access (dial-up is sufficient) and any computer that can run a relatively current browser such as Netscape (version 4.7 or later) or Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 5 or later) or equivalent.

You then arrange a contract with ChemWatch and we register a password or IP address controlled access
to your chosen version of ChemWatch.

Q. How else can I get ChemWatch?
A. There is also a project underway with AOS to provide access to ChemWatch MSDS's on the Palm Pilot and
the Compaq iPAQ through expansion disk or wireless access in the United States.

Q. What about all the other OS's?
A. The best multi-platform solution is to set ChemWeb up on a server within your intranet and then ChemWeb is available on all platforms that can run suitable browsers.

Q. What about SAP?
A. ChemWatch provides an API to the web-server that allows scripts to be setup in a SAP or any other similar
environment to get access to searches, MSDSs and other reports. There document in the docs/ChemWeb on each CD, called SAP_CHEM in Adobe acrobat format.

Q. NT3.51, Citrix with NT3.51 - why do I get an error when I run cw32.exe?
A. The compilers we use do not build 32-bit executables compatible with NT3.51. Use a browser to access the
web version as a work-around.

Q. Any issues with Windows XP?
A. ChemWatch defaults to storing it's cw.ini file in the Windows directory. With the new permissions controls
under windows XP, you must either:

1: modify the cw.ini file so that all users have write-permission to it
2: put a personal copy of the cw.ini file in the profile directory of any user interested in running ChemWatch.

Q. Why so often?
A. Liability. ChemWatch has an obligation to keep the chemical information current for your safety.

Q. I'm using Win 3.11 and I can't run the Setup.exe on the CD2000/3 and beyond. Why not?
A. It's a 32 bit program. ChemWatch has phased out support for 16 bit programs as many new features and speed improvements are gained by using 32 bit. If you have need of a 16 bit executable or installation, please contact Chemwatch or use browsers to access a web-based version.

Q. Will a new installation overwrite my stores and risk assessments etc?
A. No. Our installation program is well behaved and doesn't not overwrite your user data files nor remove them when you uninstall.

Q. Should I back up my stores, risk assessments and so forth on a regular basis and before doing a new version install.
A. Yes, most definitely - for safety and in case of mishap to your systems.

Q. Do I have to uninstall ChemWatch before installing a new version?
A. The short answer is no. ChemWatch will overwrite old versions of the files if possible.
The long version of the answer is you should uninstall ChemWatch first as not all files that are installed may be needed for the new version. If you uninstall, it will remove old files and ensure you have only the current set. Uninstalling will not delete stores/manifests/risk assessments or other user files.

Q. I have a floppy and a CD from ChemWatch. Do I need them both?
A. You need both of them, if you want to see your registered materials again. For installations using v2000/4 or later you use the setup.exe on the CD and have the floppy present in the drive, or the files from it available on the harddrive.

Q. The setup program is prompting me for a password and I don't have one.
A. Check the cover of your CD for the password. All installations from November 2000 on, have a password and use
the setup.exe on the CD. If you don't have a password, contact ChemWatch.

Q. I run ChemWatch from a CD stacker. Can I just put the new CD into the stacker and have the update done?
A. No. You must perform at least a "Compact" installation to get correct access to new and updated materials.
You must use the install program. ChemWatch will not work if you just copy files from the CD.

Q. Why do I not find any commercial materials when I do a search?
A. Your ChemWatch system has not been properly installed. You must perform at least a "Compact" installation to get correct access to commercial materials. You must use the install program. ChemWatch will not work if you just copy files from the CD.

Q. Why, when I have done a compact installation does my computer now complain it cannot find ChemWatch?
A. You've probably taken the CD out of the drive. A compact installation installs the minimum possible file set to your computer and requires you to keep the ChemWatch drive in the same drive as you installed it (unless you configure the cw.ini appropriately for it to be moved - see docs\netman.txt for details).

Q. Does the program work on my operating system?
A. See the OS-Support section above.

Q. How do I install ChemWatch on my network server that isn't a PC or running a PC-OS?
A. On a client computer, connect to your server as a user or administrator who has read/write privilege for the intended installation disk and perform the installation over the network.

Q. I don't have a floppy drive on the server, what do I do?
A. As of January 2001 ChemWatch installations will allow the name.Z file from the floppy to be read from any valid directory. Find a machine that can copy the data from the floppy, copy it to the network and when the ChemWatch installation program can't locate a floppy it will prompt you for the directory from which it is to read. ChemWatch can also email you this file if necessary.

Q. My computer says it "cannot install ikernel.exe" or starts running the installation wizard and then stops without installing ChemWatch.
A. The installation process will unpack itself into the system TEMP directory and run from there. Your TEMP directory is defined in the environment variable TEMP, as listed in the "System" control panel for Win9x, NT, 2K.
The installer will not work if the TEMP variable is not defined, or there are too many files in the directory or if there is <60mb of temporary space on the drive. Windows XP requires you to have permissions to install files in the "Program Folders" directory.

Q. When I run the installer, I am prompted with a message offering choices to 'Repair, Modify or Remove'. Why?
A. You've already installed ChemWatch, and it is second guessing that you would like to do something quicker than
reinstalling fully.

Q. I have the 'Repair, Modify or Remove' options. How do I see the normal installation screen instead?
A. Select the 'Remove' option and fully remove ChemWatch from the system. Next time you run the ChemWatch' Setup.exe you will see the normal installation options.

Q. I've done a remove, like you said in the previous question, but nothing changed. Help?
A. Installshield isn't always able to remove the registry keys that it created during an Installation. (Thank Microsoft for this technological innovation).
This can be for a number of reasons such as your user account doesn't have the privileges required to change the registry.
If you do have the necessary privileges, you can roll up your sleeves and manually delete the registry keys that Installshield writes out.
To do this, first run regedit.exe. Now you can either do a search for all keys containing either 'ChemWatch' or 'cw32.exe' and remove their encompassing folders.
There should be 2 ChemWatch keys - one is the group of icons created in your program menu and the other
is the uninstallation key. Alternatively you might prefer to select "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\".
Now the ChemWatch key is in a folder that is a huge long alpha-numeric key in braces (eg {6F716D8C-398F-11D3-85E1-005004838609}). You may have several of these, so inspect each for a display name of "ChemWatch".
When you find the matching one, remove the entire key folder.
The key will be different for each release of ChemWatch. It is an unfriendly alphanumeric string because standard Installshield doesn't clearly document how to make it anything else (in fact it says you can't make it anything else).
All this applies to ChemWatch Gold as well.
They exact keys by version number are as follows:
Setup.exe
2002/1 E3B2CC42-6802-4F53-B4E6-EA81FD911482
2002/2 640FCD09-A5E1-44B2-85DC-03C7B329F0E1
2002/3 6C1FDBE7-6C1F-4573-BBF2-1FD805520502
2002/4 90372A26-A371-4C0C-87EE-925168AF08F5
2003/1 38CAFDDE-B71F-4AEE-9952-CAC3A0559E37
2003/2 9DCDD929-CE26-411F-A02C-0DFFB1C52662
2003/3 C62A9A4F-D99F-40C3-8BEC-F6D77BFC883B

As of 2002/2 you can also use the "Remove installation from registry" button from the Registry tab on the "Turbo Tools" screen to remove this key. ChemWatch will also try to automatically remove old installation keys from the registry of the machine on which cw32.exe is running.

Q. How do I install ChemGold?
A. You need to negotiate a license with ChemWatch to have access to setting up your own ChemGold server.
Once you have this, you should receive a password for ChemGold on a sticker on each CD. Then, prior to 2002/1 you needed to install the database and then run ChemGold.exe. From 2002/1 on you need just need to select Web - Gold from the main setup.exe. This will then install the full database and the ChemWeb Gold programs.

Q. Do we have any other sources of information for securing Windows Servers?
A. Check Microsoft's official guide to securing Win2K servers at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/prodtech/Windows/SecWin2k/Default.asp

Q. Where do we get the labels for other than the A4 or Small?
A. Check your local Office stationary supply company or printers. Labels are also available directly from large suppliers such as JAC.

Q. What kind of high speed, high performance printers can I get to print labels by the hundreds or thousands.
A. ChemWatch recommends TEC printers for fast, high quality tough labels. They are a roll printer that can print in the 15cm-25cm per second rate onto a range of chemical safe materials from fine card to thick plastics.
The ribbons come in a range of materials suitable for all manner of applications.

Q. I have a networked Hewlett Packard printer that has its own ethernet card rather than an interface to a local computer or printer server and print jobs are vanishing from the print queue or even never appearing on the printer queue. Whose fault is this?
A. The compiler we use (Borland Delphi ) does not always correctly use printers that do not have their own print host. Printing can be routed through a subsidiary print host that redirects jobs to the network printer. Novell has commands for aliasing lpt0 to the interface network print interface.

Q. What printers does ChemWatch use?
A. We use a Samsung NL1600 for our bulk printing. At 16ppm, for 60000 pages pcm, why not.

Q. The graphics on my reports are not appearing. Why not?
A. Ensure that the graphics are turned on in the Printer Setup screen. If they are turned on, try the four different graphics printing modes. Mode 4 is a failsafe mode that works on all documented HP printers that ChemWatch customers have reported using. Modes 1-3 will work on most printers.

Q. I am using a HP LaserJet 3, 4 or 5 and the fonts spacings are coming out "funny" on my reports.
How do I get a more readable report?
A. Hewlett Packard advises to check your printer driver's document defaults. If this page contains a choice to "Print true-type fonts as bitmap", then enable this option. This will print more slowly, but should correct the spacing problems. Please notify ChemWatch of the model printer and driver you are using, and we will do what we can to remedy this problem for future versions.

Q. Do I require any special drivers to print from within ChemWatch?
A. No. ChemWatch uses the system printer drivers in the Windows printing system. By default, it will print to the default system printer. Other printers may be chosen from the Printer Setup screen.

Q. What kind of high speed, high performance printers can I get to print labels by the hundreds or thousands.
A. ChemWatch recommends TEC printers for fast, high quality tough labels. They are a roll printer that can print in the 15cm-25cm per second rate onto a range of chemical safe materials from fine card to thick plastics.
The ribbons come in a range of materials suitable for all manner of applications.

Q. Can I fax reports directly from ChemWatch, the program?
A. Yes. There are two ways to do this; either print the report to a file and then import it to a fax capable program or use a program such as WinFax-Pro(tm) which installs a driver that makes the modem pretend to be a printer, which is then selectable on the printer setup screen.

Q. Can my data be shared around networks?
A. Yes. See documentation in Turbo Tools Screen, Important information for Network Clients ("docs\netclnt.txt").

Q. Is ChemWatch at home on Wide area networks?
A. ChemWatch for windows can be used on WAN's, but the speed of execution is not great. It can be optimised, using local caching. However, for best WAN performance, ChemWatch recommends ChemWeb - ChemWatch for the Web.

Q. What about thin clients?
A. Many of our clients use ChemWatch on a Terminal Server or Citrix Server with great satisfaction.

Q. I'm using ChemWeb (with the marbled background) and can't find my manifests - what have I done?
A. As of 2004/4, ChemWeb no longer supports manifests, as the new security system is not able to be ported to it. If you use manifests/inventory features, then you need to upgrade to ChemWeb Gold.

Q. What about security for my stores?
A. See docs/Security.pdf for a full explanation of what is available.

Q. How do I access the ChemWatch password screen?
A. On the startup screen of ChemWatch, there is a "Password" button. When you have pushed this, you will be prompted for a master password to gain access to the ChemWatch password facility.
ChemWatch is shipped with a default master-password of <I>supervisor</I>.

Q. When should I use ChemWatch passwords?
A. If you want to restrict some users from getting access to database level-2 components or their ability to view and change certain data.

Q. Are these passwords the same as stores passwords and security?
A. No.

Q. What do I need to setup the web?
A. A working web server on a platform capable of running Windows 32bit Intel binaries, 650Mb of disk space and someone familiar with the web server and its workings to set the program up.

Q. What web servers does ChemWatch reccomend?
A. ChemWatch has found Apache available from http://www.apache.org to give reliable service.

Q. What problems are there with Microsoft IIS?
A. New security flaws are being discovered in it on a regular basis. It provides all the functionality required, but ChemWatch would strongly reccomend downloading all security patches from http://download.microsoft.com every week. IIS6 does have known problems with ChemGold. We are working to determine the scope of this problem. The current work around is to use Apache2 on Win2K3 servers.

Q. What sources of information are there for setting up the Web?
A. ChemWeb/docs contains a quick setup guide in the Readme.doc/Readme.pdf files. There is also a step-by-step guide to setting up ChemWeb with IIS4 and IIS5 ChemWeb/docs. Guides to setting up other Web servers will appear in coming issues. Also check our ftp site for current and new documents.

Q. Why is there a license document and lots of qualification to the setup instructions for the Web?
A. Web servers are complex program that can introduce a number of frailties or security flaws to networks.
ChemWeb programs are secure and are regularly checked for security issues. However, poorly setup web-servers are not. We reccomend that the setup on your web-site is done by a professional IT person to ensure that a misconfiguration of the web server doesn't introduce flaws in your network.
ChemWatch issues a license for the Web that insists you must make ChemWeb available only to your corporate network as we have worked hard on this on your behalf and do not wish to send this information out for free.

Q. How do I get these things?
A. Contact ChemWatch and request a copy of the suppliers MSDS cd. You will need to supply a list of materials that you would like, as the entire collection requires approximately 15 CD's and is only
available by agreement with ChemWatch

Q. Can I add my own?
A. ChemWatch provides cwscan32.exe as an application for scanning suppliers MSDS's or other related documentation.
You can access this by searching for a material and then going to the summary screen and pushing the suppliers MSDS button.
You can use any other scanning software you have and enjoy, by selecting it on the Turbo-Tools SCAN tab.
Further documentation is also available there. You can also send documents to ChemWatch to be added to the ChemWatch central repository.

Q. What other ways do I have of getting to the scans?
A. ChemWatch scanned supplier's MSDS's are also available over the net from the ChemWatch web services.
Contact ChemWatch for details of how you might connect to this.

Q. How do you know?
A. We scan the outgoing programs with the latest version of VET anti-virus (http://www.vet.com.au). You can see the verification log in the "Virus Scan" button under "More Technical Docs" on the documentation screen.

Q. Why do you not just use Norton AntiVirus?
A. Norton has twice given false-positives on viruses in the ChemWatch software (once in our web package and once in Installshield's 6.31 setup.exe). These reports were wrong and caused by problems with the updated macro files that were downloadable from the Norton update service at that time. These caused considerable unecessary consternation amongst some of our users.

Q. What should I do if my virus scanner reports problems with ChemWatch?
A. Check you are scanning the original CD, and not a subsequent installation that may have been infected subsequently on the machine. If so, then please contact ChemWatch to report the incident and staff will advise you.

Q. What else does ChemWatch do to fight viruses?
A. We use email-filtering services of MessageLabs to ensure that all email-borne viruses are removed before they even come on site. We have banned the use of Microsoft Outlook so that OTD (outlook-transmitted diseases) will not propogate.

Q. In ChemWeb Gold I can't get the Cosmo Plugin to work - it hangs my computer - what do I do?
A. Use Windows-Update from Microsoft to update your browser and apply all the patches. This will stop this happening.

Q. I still can't get the plugin working - do I panic now?
A. No - any VRML browser will do. ChemWatch has had good displays from the ParallelGraphics plugin for PC & Mac. http://www.parallelgraphics.com

Q. What other resources are there for finding VRML browsers for the mac?
A. For Macintosh, start at http://www.macweb3d.org. Also search on www.google.com for vrml browser macintosh.

Q. I want to do my own backing up. How do I find out what files to backup?
A. ChemWatch lists all possible user files in backup.lst. These will occur in CHEM directories and STORE directories.

Q. What do I backup on a web server?
A. Backup your webcw.ini and the contents of the CHEM directory. All user files are written out to the CHEM directory.