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Moxa ViewCom Utility User Guide
Copyright(C) 2009 Moxa Inc.
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Date: 04/17/2009
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. System Requirements
3. Installation
3.1 How to Use
3.2 Context Menu
3.3 Tool Tip Message
4. Q&A
5. Technical Support
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1. Introduction
ViewCom is a small and convenient tool for displaying Windows system COM
ports. When a user moves the cursor over the ViewCom icon in the system tray
, a tool tip will pop up to indicate the names of serial adapters and their
COM port numbers. Without ViewCom, users must spend the time to run "Device
Manager" to find the COM port numbers. ViewCom makes locating COM port
number quicker and easier.
ViewCom also offers a shortcut to launch Windows Device Manager in its
context menu. In Windows Device Manager, users can further modify the
settings by launching the property page.
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2. System Requirements
- Hardware Platform: x86, x64
- Supported OS: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista,
Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008
- Screen resolution: At least 800x600 pixels
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3. Installation
3.1 How to Use
ViewCom is a single executable program, which does not require
installation and can function as an auto startup program. User should put
ViewCom in a permanent path, instead of a temporary folder to ensure
that ViewCom operates optimally.
While ViewCom is running, users can move the cursor over to the ViewCom
icon (located in the system tray, near the bottom right corner of your
screen) and a tool tip will pop up.
The tool tip displays information about serial port adaptors and COM
ports. The following describes ViewCom¡¦s context menu and message
layout:
3.2 Context Menu
A right click on the mouse button displays the context menu of ViewCom.
The context menu provides four options:
- Device Manager (you can also double click on the ViewCom icon, in the
system tray)
Users can launch Windows Device Manager quickly and easily.
- Auto Startup
Windows to run ViewCom automatically during startup.
- About
About ViewCom COM Ports Viewer.
- Exit
Exit the ViewCom utility.
3.3 Tool tip message
- Tool tip appearance
+--------------------------------+
| Moxa UPort 1250 Series | <-- Serial adapter (bus) description
| Moxa UPort COM Port 1 (COM3) | <-- COM description and port number
| Moxa UPort COM Port 2 (COM4) |
+--------------------------------+
- Shorten description
If the serial adapter or COM port description is too lengthy, then the
displayed description will be shortened.
Example:
+-----------------------------------+
| Moxa UPort 1250 Series |
| Moxa UPort in ... Port 1 (COM3) |
| Moxa UPort in ... Port 2 (COM4) |
+-----------------------------------+
- Intelligent shrink
The tool tip has 3 levels of shrinking and a maximum row of 17 lines.
ViewCom will automatically shrink the information to fit. For example,
when the tool tip in level 1 has more than 17 rows, ViewCom will
shrink the excess rows to level 2, and the rows in level 2 will shrink
to level 3.
Example of Level 1: Friendly names + COM port numbers
+--------------------------------+
| Moxa UPort 1250 Series |
| Moxa UPort COM Port 1 (COM3) |
| Moxa UPort COM Port 2 (COM4) |
+--------------------------------+
Example of Level 2: COM port numbers by row
+------------------------+
| Moxa UPort 1610 Series |
| -COM3~6 |
| -COM11 |
| -COM13 |
| -COM15~16 |
+------------------------+
Example of Level 3: COM port numbers by comma
+-------------------------+
| Moxa UPort 1610 Series |
| -COM3~6, 11, 13, 15~16 |
+-------------------------+
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4. Q&A
1. Some COM Ports are not displayed.
ViewCom supports standard COM ports, Moxa UPort products, MSB products,
and other similar products. Note that some virtual COM ports may not
enumerate properly.
2. Friendly names of COM ports are difficult to read.
For example:
+-----------------+
| Moxa...Series |
| Moxa...(COM3) |
| Moxa...(COM4) |
+-----------------+
ViewCom shortens the length of friendly names depending on the resolution
of the screen. Running ViewCom with a lower resolution may further
shorten characters. Adjusting to a higher resolution will resolve this
problem.
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5. Technical Support
ViewCom has been thoroughly tested using Moxa¡¦s UPort/MSB products. Only
devices that appear in Windows Device Manager are supported by ViewCom,
although Moxa can only guarantee that Moxa UPort/MSB products will be
supported.
If you encounter any problems, feel free to contact Moxa's technical support
team. We will be glad to assist you. In instances where the problem(s) is
with a device other than a Moxa UPort/MSB product, we will require more time
to help solve the issue.
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Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.