Downloading and running the executable swagman.exe  

Create a new folder in a location you can find easily, called CryptoPrograms or 
something similar that you will easily recognize. Create another folder inside 
this one for the cipher type, e.g., Swagman.  Now download the executable 
swagman.exe and the sample con file E11SO2008.txt into this folder.  Any other 
cons that you wish to work with must be placed in this folder, as text files.  
The file should consist of the con itself as a continuous string with no spaces, 
followed by the tip in uppercase letters on the next line.

Once it is downloaded, run the program by double-clicking the executable.  A new 
window should open.  It will give the name of the program and ask for the file 
name of the con.  Before going further, I suggest that you customize the window as 
follows:

1.  There is an icon just to the left of the title at the top left of the window.  
Clicking on this reveals a drop-down menu.  Select the Defaults option.  This 
opens another window called Console Windows Properties, which has 4 tabs.  Change 
nothing in the General tab.
2.  Click on the Font tab and choose Lucida Console, whose letters are easier to 
read than the other choice.
3.  Click on the Layout tab.  Increase both the window width and screen buffer 
width from 80 to 90, giving a slightly wider window.
4.  Click on the Colors tab.  The program probably comes up with white text on a 
black background.  If you want to change the screen background from black to white 
and the screen text from white to black, this can be done by clicking on the 
appropriate radio button and then on the desired color square.  This is strictly a 
matter of personal preference.
5.  When you have finished making the changes, click OK.

These changes don't take effect until after the window is closed and re-opened.  
To make the changes immediate, select Properties in the drop-down menu and make 
the same changes.  You can make the window longer by dragging down on the lower 
right corner of the window. At the correct mouse position, a double-headed arrow 
control should appear.  You can't make the window wider using this control.

After customizing the window, go back to the program window and enter the name of 
the con file.  For the sample con file, for example, enter E11SO2008.txt. If you 
make the con file using Notepad or another text editor, you must add the .txt 
extension when typing in the name.  You will be presented with a choice for the number of columns.  After typing in your choice, the program runs and gives a list of the top 50 scoring partial solution candidates.  On the left are the column numbers for each solution.  Note that once you choose a candidate, you may eliminate any others starting with the same column number.

When you are finished looking at the solutions, press <enter> as directed by the program.  The solution will be written to a text file called <conname>sol.txt, which you can look at and print out later with Notepad by double-clicking it.