"Do I have to pay to make it work?"
"How do you use this thing? Any instructions?"
"Your program has changed my registry!"

The first thing you should know is that

	there is no activation code. It works as it is. 1-4a Rename is freeware.
	1-4a Rename doesn't change any registry settings.
	there are no installation or de-installation routines, no folders will be written on disk, nothing will be written into your windows folder, there aren't any drivers installed.
	there are no memory-resident programs that run automatically in the background.
	it is totally impossible that 1-4a Rename changes your system configuration or changes file type associations.

Because 1-4a doesn't change your system

	there is no need to deinstall it and reinstall it, if something does not work.
	emailing me doesn't activate any functionality.
	before downloading a new version of 1-4a Rename you don't have to erase/uninstall the old one.
	you can run 1-4a Rename with other programs in the background.

You just start it, rename with it and close it.

Save 1-4a Rename on a floppy, take the floppy to another computer and start it there. It won't do anything with the floppy or the computer, except changing file names IF YOU WANT IT.

If you don't want to use 1-4a Rename anymore then just delete the rename.exe file.

The second thing you should know is that you won't change ANY filenames unless you press the red Rename Button. You can fool around and

	type in what you want, where you want, how you want
	check and uncheck checkboxes
	press buttons, change to expert mode and back
	resize
	do everything else

As long as you don't press the red button

NOTHING will be changed on your harddisk.

And even if you pressed the button you may still undo it with the Undo Button.

To get an idea what you can do with 1-4a Rename check the FAQ/Examples and the features.

Reason 1 why people keep asking a question like "How does this work?" is because the rename button is greyed out. Please read the reasons at why_is_the_start_button_greyed_out.htm

Reason 2 why people keep asking a question like "How does this work?" is because they want to change the extension of a file and a) forget to switch to "Extension" instead of "Name" and b) type in ".exe" instead of "exe" (without a dot).

Reason 3 is because they don't pay attention to the yellow tool tips that pop up above nearly every button or field. Example:

Reason 4 is because they renamed files (=pressed the Start Button) and the X t o the left of the file names did not disappear.
The reason is: After a renaming the folder is read in newly and whatever settings you had they are now applied to the freshly read in files.
Example: You want to delete the first character of every filename. After you have pressed Start all files are still marked with X, because the setting to delete the first character is still functioning. But: It will delete the second character now, of course, because the first one was deleted already.

Reason 5 is because they use quotation marks " within the replace/insert fields.

Reason 6 is because after a renaming the names didn't change.

Reason 7 is because they don't use the newest version. There are a few examples in the FAQ which don't work with older versions. Or older versions have bugs. The newest 1-4a Rename is .