SUPPORT > SECURECRT > INNOVATIVE USES OF THE CHAT WINDOW
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Below is a tip submitted by one of our customers who has some innovative ways to use the SecureCRT® or CRT™ chat window that might save you some time—or maybe even reduce your cell phone bill. This tip initially appeared in our July 2003 newsletter.

   
 

Innovative Uses of the SecureCRT Chat Window

 

Type in real time over a slow connection
"When I'm using a slow connection, such as the network service in most hotels or my cell phone network service, the chat window lets me type in real time. Without the chat window, I can be ten or fifteen characters ahead of myself before I spot a typo and have to count the number of cursor steps backwards to fix it."

Use the chat window as a Notepad window when assembling shell commands
"The chat buffer is useful for entering text on slow connects. But even on fast connections, I use the chat area as temporary storage when doing a lot of cutting and pasting when assembling complex shell commands, etc. It's more convenient than juggling an extra Notepad window, and I can just hit enter when I'm ready to run it." [He notes that the chat buffer is not useful for keyboard commands (i.e., "more" prompts, cursor movement, etc.]

Save money on your cell phone bill
"If I’m using my cell phone's network service to connect to the internet for remote shell, I reduce the amount of data sent by using the chat window. With the chat window, I send a line or paragraph at a time instead of a character at a time. Since traffic is metered per megabyte block, this cuts the cost by about a factor of ten. SecureCRT paid for itself in two months of AT&T wireless bill savings."

Below is a screenshot showing a VShell® connection with the SecureCRT chat window being used to set up a port forward for e-mail.


 


 

 

Accessing the chat window

To turn the chat window on or off during a SecureCRT session, open the "View" menu and then select "Chat Window".

 

 
 

 

To have the chat window open by default in all sessions, open the "Global Options" dialog. Select the "Appearance" category and check the "Chat Window" check box.

 

 
 

 

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