There are two types of log files you will sometimes be requested to send when getting customer support.

Application.log

This file contains a lot of useful information that will help us track down various problems yo may be experiencing. If you're experiencing a crash or freeze, it will help us determine if it is a particular devices driver or chart that is causing the problem.

There are a couple of ways you can get this file to us:

• Use the "Send Feedback..." item on the "Help" menu. This method is the easiest to use but does require that you have your e-mail client registered* with Windows.
• If you don't have a registered email client on your computer or you don't have internet access on your boat, you should:
1. Type '$applog' into your find box and hit <ENTER>. This will open the Application.log file in the program that is registered with Windows for the file extension .LOG. By default, Windows uses Notepad.
2. Save the file to the location you choose. You will probably want to save it to your Desktop so it's easy to find or directly to a USB Thumb-drive directly. If you save it to your Desktop, you will then want to copy or move it to some external media, like a USB Thumb-drive or perhaps burn it to a CD. Once it's on external media, you can take it to a computer with internet access and attach it to an email which should be addressed to support@rosepointnav.com.

NMEA log file (nmea.log)

Unlike an Application.log file, there is not automatic way to send this to us. In order to send one of these to us, follow these instructions:

1. Start recording an NMEA log file. To accomplish this, you should:
1. Go to the "Tools > Options..." menu and click on the "Instruments" tab. Several buttons are presented. Find the one titled "Logging..." and click on it. This presents a small dialog box titled "NMEA 0183 Data Logging". Check the checkbox 'Record incoming data". The default size of the log file is 10MB. This is quite large and, depending on your email service, may be too large for the attachment size limit. I suggest setting it to something lower--perhaps 1MB or 2MB. The default location where it saves the log file is "C:\nmea.log". You can change it, but this works fine. Click "OK" twice and use Coastal Explorer for a while, at least an hour. Do what you need to in order to manifest the issue you want support for. After the problem has occurred, you can go back to the "NMEA 0183 Data Logging" dialog box and turn logging off. It will now stop recording, but the file containing the data we need will be present. Note: if you do not turn NMEA logging off, it can impact the performance of Coastal Explorer.
2. Find your nmea.log file and send it as an attachment to an email to us. For more detailed instructions, see the instructions above, under Application.log file.

* By default, Windows sets Outlook Express (or Windows Mail in Vista) as the registered e-mail client. If Outlook Express is not configured for your e-mail account, and an request is made to create a new e-mail from a program like Coastal Explorer or your web browser, it will try to open Outlook Express. Because it hasn't been configured yet, it will then ask you to configure it. The problem is that many users are using web-based email systems, where you view and send your email from your web browser. Some of these web based email systems have a small program you can download, which you can then register as your e-mail client, but you'll have to download it and configure it to work with your e-mail; Gmail, for example, is one of these. These little programs live in your toolbar, which are the little icons near the clock. When a program requests to send an email, this small program starts up your web browser, goes to your email page, and automatically creates a new email to send.