EZguide - The FREE 15-minute reporting software

Last update: July, 2010 (we've made a lot of
changes to EZguide - hope you download it and enjoy!)

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 - it really is free!

"I create narrative reports in 15 minutes with

Homexam's EZguide" - Jay Markanich

"Fantastic!" - Dave Rushton

EZguide 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.

Features

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.

Note for 2010 version of Homexam's EZguide 8

One user of EZguide recently submitted his reports for review by
the examination committee of a major association of home
inspectors and his reports were rejected. Despite the fact that the
standards of the association required inspectors to report on
"installed systems," the examining committee wanted him to also
report systems and were not installed. They specifically mentioned
garages and fireplace chimneys, where were to be reported as
"not present." Strange - EZguide reports always had been
accepted by earlier committees . . . but:

Actually, the new committee's idea is good. One inspector speaking at
an association's annual conference told attendees some years ago that
he was getting sued because he failed to report the fact that the
swimming pool was unlevel. Fortunately, he was able to find the date of
the permit in the code enforcement office - dated some two years after
the inspection took place!

For this and other reasons, Homexam has modified EZguide with new
text tags which read " not present," and "not observed, hidden." The latter
speeds up reporting of hidden items, such as wall structure in a house in
which it's next to impossible to know for sure whether the studs are
metal or wood. A few other changes also were made for 2010.

Did it work?

After getting the new version of EZguide and using it to create new
reports for the committee to examine, his reports were judged by
this committee to comply with the standards in early Feb., 2010.

Recommendation: Go through your association's standards carefully, and retain each item
in EZguide's Part II (which identifies the components of the house) so that they'll be included
in your automatic review of your work in Step Two of the report writing process. That way you'll
be sure to mark each item as "not present" if in fact the house doesn't have it. Do the same for
other expensive items, such as pools, etc., even if not included in your associations standards.

EZguide features

EZguide works in Word 2000 and later versions.
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.

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, and the short movie on the web help you
to learn the program.

You can undo 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." When the list of electrical
receptacle problems (problems that should be reported) 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.

Other software may be easier to learn, but if it's easy to learn, it
probably doesn't have much power and will eat up your time year
after year for as long as you tolerate it.

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 the first 1986 version for DOS.

Items carry references to Homexam's acclaimed homeowner's
manual . With help from its hundreds of pictures (now over 1000, 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; once back in the office, you can get on the
web to, say, verify your hunch that the compressor in the A.C. had
a variable-speed motor etc).

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 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).

Word accepts 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; or you can use Word’s drawing module for simple
drawings.

Free - Homexam's EZguide is readily available - just download
(below).

General Info

EZguide's setup program automatically will open EZguide for
you if you have Word 2000 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 EZG8 file in the new C:\HOMEXAM folder.

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. After downloading, double click the file to install
EZguide.

Ezg8.exe (click here)
or, if you only want the EZguide .DOC file, click
EZG8.DOC

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
(that would be EZG8 if you want to open EZguide). 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

Place the Homexam files in a Homexam directory. If the
installation program doesn't work, then just download
the .DOC file here.

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. Instructions to do that are found
at the top of EZguide after you install and open it.

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

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).

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). Buy it here.

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.

Let's Go to the Movies

Soon there will be more . . .

Introduction to EZguide, the movie. If you have a dial-up connection,
download it and run it off your hard disk (about 60 MB - in most
browsers, you can right-click and then left-click "Save link as"):
EZG8.wmv

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. Dial-up connection?

Get ezgmod.wmv

(about 11 MB)

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.
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.
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
May, 2009: Added the Alt-R, Alt-S, Alt-T macros, and many new items
Feb., 2010: Added text tags for "not present," etc.