EZguide - The FREE 15-minute reporting software

Oct. 3, 2005

The thousands of pre-worded items in Homexam's EZguide include references to Homexam's acclaimed homeowner's manual, The User-Friendly Home. Constantly improved since 1986, Homexam's EZguide is the oldest on-site reporting software.

New Version 8 - many improvements, still a free download, and not a dumbed-down demo! Nor is it time-limited, or fee-per-use software!

"I create narrative reports in 15 minutes with Homexam's EZguide" - Jay Markanich

"Fantastic!" - Dave Rushton

An alternative to EZguide that also references Homexam's User-Friendly Home can be found http://www.pvsoftware.com/products/homexam_library.shtml

EZguide Standard and Plus Versions for Windows

EZguide 8 is shipping. New icon-driven interface turns the learning curve on its head. Stll totally free, no per-use fee, and not time-limited.

The Plus version also is shipping! It has thousands of active links so that when you click on a reference to an article from Homexam’s User-Friendly Home, that article will open on screen for you to drag a picture to your report, shorten the article for faster printing, add more text or pictures, or otherwise edit your combined inspection report with the article from Homexam's homeowner's manual. And, of course, your customers can download additional articles for free. Price: $495.

Features in the free and the Plus versions

Keyboard shortcuts: You can create a report just as fast with the keyboard shortcuts as you can with EZpad, touch screen, or programmable mouse if you practice.

Partial reports (summary only): Homexam's EZguide now also can be used in the office after printing an on-site summary page (or, of course, you could create and print the entire report in the office). The summary includes all of your concerns - it merely omits the good features of the house, etc. You should be able to create and print the summary page(s) in less than 10 minutes.

The radon checklist (created by EPA/ASHI) now is included in EZguide

Contents of this web page

Support: Please call 760-436-5934. (If you are using Word 2000 or later, click “Word 2000 issues” in the Table of Contents above.)

Hear the word of the experts

"I've paid thousands of dollars for inspection software, but Homexam's EZguide for Windows is best" - Mark Bonar.

EZguide features, free and plus versions:

For Word 2000 and later versions-- the best-selling word processor. (Don't try to use Word 7 or other old versions of Word—the formats are incompatible). Like any Word document, you can temporarily or permanently modify Homexam's EZguide, including adding as many pages of text as you wish.

Creates a genuine narrative format - not a form with checkboxes.

No pre-printed forms are needed, no per-use fees are charged. Homexam's EZguide is free, is not a dumbed-down demo, and does not expire. You can even print a certificate for them so that they can download articles from the book for free!

Homexam's EZguide uses Microsoft Visual Basic programming language (the code was written by a genuine home inspector so that EZguide would work like inspectors think; all code then was reviewed by a professional programmer before releasing EZguide). Virtually any programmer you choose can modify or update Homexam's EZguide to fit any of your business needs at any future date.

On-screen instructions constantly guide your activities– no keystrokes required for help, and no external documentation is needed. Also, the movies on the EZguide CD, the short movie on the web, and the VHS video help you to learn the program.

You can reverse actions by pressing Ctrl Z. If you seriously blunder, an automatic pop-up hint will get you back on course and will block completion of your erroneous command. These fail-safes prevent losing required headings or including an inspectors' help item, etc., on the printed report. Such fail-safes are essential for highly automated software, such as Homexam's EZguide.

The installation will not modify your registry. Therefore, you can install Homexam's EZguide without fear that it will tamper with your Windows setup.

Thousands of preworded items reduce the time required to construct a report and help prevent foot-in-mouth disease. Homexam's EZguide perhaps has more preworded concerns than any other reporting software. One expensive reporting software package boasts more items, but many of those items are "clutter" items, such as "vitreous china toilet found in the master bathroom" and "stainless steel toilet found in the master bathroom.” When the list of electrical receptacle problems was examined, their list was perhaps half as long as the EZguide list. Recommendation: compare any competing software with EZguide's items list carefully before deciding which to use.

Homexam's EZguide is the industry's oldest on-site reporting software, and the Windows version retains the features and wording that have been expanded and polished since 1986. Moreover, the Windows version has been subjected to programmed polishing . For example, a software routine was written to be certain that each item is followed by exactly one space (a few of EZguide 5's items had no spaces, and some had 2 spaces). This attention to detail ensures consistency. When you add a Homexam Text Tag, such as "found in the master bathroom," for example, it will be appropriately spaced from the body of the item. With EZguide's precision, your reports always look professional.

Items carry references to Homexam's acclaimed homeowner's manual . With help from its hundreds of pictures (now over 500, with more on the way), your customers will understand your report. Also, by putting in-depth explanations in book form, short narrative reports, such as those created by Homexam's EZguide, become feasible.

You are permitted to delete references to Homexam's book to produce a stand-alone report, or replace them with references to our competitors' books (but you are not permitted to distribute to others, by any means, modified versions of Homexam's EZguide without written permission from Homexam).

Highly automated report creation (with icons, menus, Homexam Text Tags, etc.) speed your work. When you become skilled with EZguide, you'll probably find that you can create a finished, professional report about as fast as you could complete a multi-page checklist report that is NOT professional in its appearance.

EZguide is intended to create on-site reports. Everyone prefers immediate reports, and you'll avoid the drudgery of nightly report writing.

If you prefer, partially completed reports can be saved in order to complete them later in the office (perhaps after printing the summary page on site).

You won't have to worry about overlooking an important item with the automatic built-in checklist feature (see on-screen instructions for Step 2, Review and Comply). Recommendation: Modify the permanently retained items accessed in Step 2 so that your own most-likely-to-overlook items are included. Also,beginners should carry a narrow paper checklist (about 3 inches wide) that can be quickly pulled from your shirt pocket to examine before leaving the crawl space, attic, utility room, etc. This paper checklist cannot have all the thousands of items found in Homexam's EZguide, for then it would be so cumbersome that you couldn't use it. Instead, include just a hundred or so items that you have found from experience that you are most likely to miss. Make a few dozen copies so that when one becomes soiled you'll have another copy ready to go.

Data collection with a tapeless voice recorder (recommended, if you are certain the recorder is reliable) eliminates frequent pauses during the inspection procedure required when inspectors record data on paper (the procedure used by checklist reporting systems and pocket computers—I know, I used a pocket computer for years). These interruptions are frustrating for your customers who want to observe the inspection. If your customer wants to interrupt the inspection to measure the windows for curtains, etc., you can save your time by suggesting that they'll have time to do that while you construct the report. It's a win-win procedure for everyone.

Homexam's EZguide automatically creates a summary page that shows all your major concerns. This page helps your customers and their agents see at a glance the deficiencies of the house.

Homexam's EZguide is easy to modify on site or permanently (it IS a word processor document, not a complicated database or spreadsheet document).

Word allows drag-'n-drop pictures captured by your digital camera. You also can drag-'n-drop pictures you draw on site in your favorite drawing program (Corel's Presentations is powerful, easy to learn, and inexpensive; Homexam's tests show it works with Word; or you can use Word’s drawing module for simple drawings). (You also can drag-'n-drop pictures or text from Homexam's User-Friendly Home if you buy EZguide Plus.)

Free - Homexam's EZguide is readily available - just download it from this web site. It's Homexam's complete EZguide software - not a dumbed-down demo. No licensing fee or per-use fee required, and the software has no expiration date. Please don't call us to ask how much the software costs. IT'S FREE!

General Info

EZguide's setup program automatically will open EZguide for you if you have Word 97 or later installed in Windows 95 or later. After Setup, just double click the new Homexam icon probably found on your desktop. Or, use Windows Explorer to double click the EZguide file in the new C:\HOMEXAM folder.

Unlike EZguide 5, we recommend you use it with a laptop instead of a pocket computer. The pocket computer beat carrying a laptop through the house, but it still was not that user-friendly and it interrupted the momentum of the inspection. However, the new, tapeless voice recorders make it feasible to record data into them as you inspect, then sit in a quiet place at the end of the inspection and key your data into a laptop. (Click http://www.homexam.com/equipment.html for recommended equipment and vendors.)

Download

Note: If you have trouble downloading, call Homexam and ask for the free CD that has EZguide 8.

If you have a virus checker, you can download the latest version of EZguide (you should download later versions frequently, or at least update the items list). To download, please click the following file name and save it to a directory where you’ll be able to find it. It's a big file, so go eat while downloading. After downloading, double click the file to install EZguide (it won't change your Window's registry).

Ezg8.exe (click here)

If you have an old, slow computer, you may prefer EZguide 7. At about 3 MB., it's also faster to download. To download the old EZguide 7, click

EZGsetup.exe

Problem - mainly with old computers: If your ~!@#$%^&* (pardon the language) computer changes the above EXE filename extension to ZIP, it won't work! Please save the file to a place on your hard disk that you can easily find, then zap the the ZIP and change it back to EXE.

Note: Some contrary browsers and virus checkers also hide the external viewer after the download. If you don't see the viewer that allows you to choose the directory where you want to save it, press Tab a few times while continuously holding Alt to switch to the viewer (or you could click on the viewer icon on the task bar; the viewer could be your virus checker). Then you'll be able to delete the ZIP extension and replace it with the EXE extension before choosing the folder where you want to save it .

When installing, close each window when you are done with it (don't just minimize it) so that the next part of the installation will continue.

After downloading and installing, double click the new Homexam icon on your desktop and then double click the file of your choice. This version of EZguide 8 should work with any version of Word from Word 2000 to present. If you have a version of Word that won't print the footers correctly - or any other problem - please let us know.

Mac

Once an inspector told Homexam that EZguide works with Word 95. If you have Word 95 running on a Mac, PLEASE tell us if EZguide works properly. You’ll need to create a Drive C and place the Homexam files in a Homexam directory.

Word 2000 (and later) issues (discussed in more detail in the instructions included with EZguide 8):

Word 2000 has a security feature that blocks macros (macros power all the functions of Homexam’s EZguide). If you try to run EZguide or other software that uses macros on the Word 2000 (or later) default settings, you’ll be a very frustrated inspector, for the icons, etc., won’t work.

To solve that problem, click Tools>Macros>Security, check the “Medium” box, then click “OK.” Now Word will allow you to choose “enable macros” when you open EZguide.

Word 2002 (WordXP) is faulty and must have Office XP Service Pack 3 installed. You can download it from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com (click on the "Microsoft Office" tab, then the "Search for Updates" link in the upper-left corner of the page).

Word 97 is not compatible; try to upgrade to Word 2003.

To Uninstall Homexam's EZguide

Merely search (hold the Windows key as you press F) for HOMEXAM with Windows explorer and delete everything it finds.

HELP!

If you get stuck, please email Larry Reavis or call us at 760-436-5934.

HINTS

Watch this section--we'll post hints as they occur to us or to an inspector (your hints are welcome by e-mail or phone).

You'll probably be so slow when you start using EZguide that you won't want be able to produce a complete on site report quickly enough to keep your customer and others happy. Here's a solution: Record just the problems, then click Step 2 and enter your customers name, then print out just the Abstract page(s). You can give that to your customer, then finish the rest in your office at night, print out the entire report, and fax/mail as appropriate (be sure to save the changes by renaming the HomexamT file to a unique filename and save it).

Let's Go to the Movies

This high-resolution instructional movie shows you all you need to know to create reports with EZguide 7 (EZguide 8 works about the same except for the icons). Running time about 15 minutes. Click the file and wait. A slow dial-up modem will need an hour or so to download this 8MB+ file (about 10 minutes with a slow DSL or cable connection)

DOS Version

Homexam's EZguide 5 (DOS version -- no longer supported by Homexam) lets you enter data into a pocket computer as you inspect. At the end of the inspection, you can print color reports . With thousands of pre-worded items-- including many with technical info that's hard to remember at the moment you need it-- you'll rarely need to type. When you do type, the continuous spell checker will beep if you make an error. Best of all, reports include references to Homexam's acclaimed User-Friendly Home reference book. Its hundreds of pictures make it easy for your customer to understand your report. To get EZguide 5, e-mail Dave Rushton at ableinsp@rma.edu

Bargain Bundle (Book and More)

Homexam's User-Friendly Home is used as a textbook by dozens of inspection companies and training organizations. We know that most inspector trainees are facing many expenses and little income, so we've priced our book versions just above the give-away level (that's why you won't find Homexam books in many bookstores--the profit margin is nonexistent).

To get a bargain bundle that includes our software, including Flyers on Disk (installed in C:\Homexam), instructional videos for EZguide, sample instructional CDs on technical topics, our 392-page book (as of Spring, 2004), the CD-ROM version of our book, plus Tips and Testers for Home Inspectors (about 80 pages), and much more, please send your check for $39 to our address .

Or, you can call 800-654-4511 and order by Visa or MC.

Homexam's EZvoice

We’ve experimented with voice typing software since 2000 and believe it’s not ready for prime time unless you are an exceedingly slow typist. The problem is correction of mistakes, which takes more time than can be saved by voice control even on a 3gHz cpu. And even 98% accuracy means you’re making a correction every few minutes. Nevertheless, it’s worth a try if you type slowly and have a fast computer. Dragon Dictate generally gets the best reviews.

How to modify EZguide's footer

The footer printed on all EZguide reports says the final report will be posted on the web. You may want to change this footer - this video shows how to do this.

Homexam's EZguide History of Major Improvements:

1986: First Homexam on-site software report generator--field testing begins.
About 1988: First use of QuickSoft's proprietary programming language.
1989: First public release of EZguide for DOS.
Early-1990s: EZguide 4 customized for HP pocket computers.
Mid-1990s: EZguide 5 includes many failsafes.
Dec. 1997: Visual Basic used to create a Word97 Windows version.
Mar. 26 1998: Basic functions were operational; early beta release.
April 20, 1998: Failsafe functions were operational; accidental bug introduction.
June 25, 1998: Final Windows version released, with bug not yet detected.
July 7, 1998: Inspector reports bug that disrupts format
July 10, 1998: Bug fixed, second "final version" posted on web.
July 13, 1998: Instructions improved, Step 3 runs faster; automatic spell checking turned on (you can turn on automatic spell checking in any Word document by check-marking the first box after you click Tools>Options>Spelling & Grammar).
July 15, 1998: Instructions to Customers improved. Slight formatting improvement (line space added between system sections).
August 11, 1998: New version with additional text tags and Windows NT4-quirk repair.
Sept. 3, 1998: Many new swimming pool items, fire sprinkler items, etc.
Sept. 15, 1998: Keyboard shortcuts for the first 5 (most useful) text tags.
Sept. 16, 1998: All keyboard shortcuts work correctly.
Oct. posting: Many improvements, including (a) bug fix for Retain so it would consistently put cursor at end of line; (b) bug fix that eliminated square boxes that printed on some printers where spaces should have been; (c) changed "apparently functioning" to "apparently operational" to comply with the standards of some organizations; (d) improved the Space macro so it would correct items that had multiple spaces at the end of the item and leave only one space at the end of the item (useful for correcting any errors you introduce when you add items); (e) created a Space2 macro to eliminate spaces after the back-accents required for correct formatting in NT4 installations (not needed for Win95/98/2000/etc.) installations); (f) numerous formatting and wording changes; (g) a few new items added.
Oct. 2: Win98 installations superimposed 2 line numbers for 1-point type-- bug fix; Win98 (and perhaps other) installations failed to switch automatically to the Homexam.dic user dictionary-- bug fix; a few instructions were lacking the >|| coding at the beginning of the line that prevents retaining for printing-- bug fix. Also changed the installation program so that installation on non-standard installations of Word (such as Word on Drive D) would be automatic.
Major changes for Oct 5: Don't have time to create a complete report on site? OK-- just retain all the problems. Then click Step 2 but fill in only the customer's name and go directly to click Step 3 without completing the time-consuming Review and Comply portion of Step 2. After printing only the Abstract summary page(s), save the HomexamT file with a unique filename. Open that file later in your office, click Step 2, and continue to work on it as usual, finally clicking Step 3 and printing all pages of the report. Then fax/mail the report as appropriate.
Oct. 8: Improved instructions.
Oct. 11: "Update" text tag added.
Oct. 16 posting: New keyboard shortcuts; turn on spell checker for upper-case words, and several words corrected; many new or reworded items; macro to turn off line numbering for the current paragraph or entire document; macro to jump down 5 lines; macros to jump from word-to-word, left or right.
Oct. 23: New and modified keyboard shortcuts. A summary of all shortcuts added at end of the turquoise instructions-- not in turquoise, so you can print them and read them easily (you can tape them to your computer). New Homexam Text Tags (expensive/ habitability/ safety). Many new items, including evaporative cooler, pool items, etc.
Dec. 8: New Text Tag ("as discussed"). New items. Shading eliminated in headings (a fix for printers with dark printing). Shortened the "End of Report" line and similar lines for printers that printed long lines.
Feb. 11, 1999: New Text Tag ("typical for a house of this age); all text tags now place text at the insertion point (some previously put text at end of item automatically).
July 20, 1999: Polished version bug fixes--line numbers between sections that sometimes slightly overlapped; time-of-day footer that didn't update; page numbering that didn’t work right in Part 2. These bugs and others were fixed for Word 2000 (also tested in Win 98 and NT4).
Oct. 11, 1999: Now you can put all the items you created into special categories in each system (Structure, Exterior, etc.). Each system has a “MY ITEMS” link. This will help you find them when creating a report, or when upgrading to a new version of EZguide. See on-screen instructions.
Dec. 9, 1999: New items.
April, 2000: EZguide 7 Version is released (the CD ROM version erroneously titles its version as “Pro”).
July, 2000: New text tag (end-of-life, per new ASHI Standards); reorganization of “Chimney” and related items.
Aug., 2000: New instructions added a few places in Part 2; easier navigational aids.
Sept., 2000: New keyboard shortcuts; menu buttons expanded.
Jan. 2001: A few quirks smoothed out, a few new items added.
April 2001: Radon checklist from EPA/ASHI is included. All reference links are active, ready for .doc files from the PRO version so that inspectors can print out articles from Homexam’s book on site.
September 2001: EZguide Plus ships, and free articles from our book can be downloaded.
March 2002: Industrial hygienist (for mold) text tag; new items, esp. condensing furnace and garage door.

Jan. 2004: Corrected file for Word2003 was posted, plus enhancements to both the old version and the new version.
Feb. 2004: Specific versions for various flavors of Word were created
April 2004: Fix bug in the Word2000 version that ruined the bookmarks, gave a debug error upon opening, etc.
May 2004: EZguide 8 released (a few bugs fixed, June 5, and instructions modified/items added July 12).
July 2004: Better compatibility with Word97; "Freeze-vulnerable" icon link fixed; new items added.
Sept. 2004: Interface correction so that interface would open correctly on all computers
Jun. 2005: New version of EZguide 8 works with all versions of Word since 2000 - no need for a separate version for Word 2000