Yahoo alias is the simple concept. Let's consider an example - you created a non-existent ticker - "MY_TICK" in your Omega Downloader and tried to update it. Of course, the update failed as the symbol is unknown on Yahoo. But if you created a Yahoo Alias for it, say MY_TICK refers now to CSCO, then the update will be successful and MY_TICK will contain the same data as CSCO.
Recently Yahoo had renamed many of the symbols of international exchanges so that their length became larger then 8 characters ( example : EIT.TO became EIT-UN.TO) - the limit imposed by DialData protocol implemented in Omega Downloader. This obviously created a problem - the users were unable to download and update such tickers! And the only solution was to use Yahoo Aliases.
Please download and save the following file - aliases.reg
Right-click on it and choose Edit menu
At the bottom of the file you can add the following line for example:
"REI"="REI-UN.TO"
This will add an alias for "REI-UN.TO" symbol.
Save the file and then double-click on it.
Windows will ask whether you want to import the data into Windows registry -
please confirm Yes.
Done!
Alternatively, if you are familiar with Windows registry, then you can run 'regedit.exe' and browse to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\HQuotes\Quotelf Omega\Yahoo Aliases] branch and edit the values manually.