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1991-02-03
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THE SECRET KEEPER
[documentation]
written for I.B. Magazette by Karl Minor
The SECRET KEEPER is a personal diary program that uses the word-
processing powers of your computer to make keeping a diary more fun and
less troublesome. Your SECRET KEEPER diary is equipped with an
"electronic padlock" in the form of a password that must be keyed in each
time the diary is opened. You can also have your diary encrypted with a
unique code that is derived from your personal password. This will cause
the file that is saved to disk to be completely unreadable to anyone who
does not know your password. The program is self-prompting, but you
should read through these instructions before using the SECRET KEEPER.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
The SECRET KEEPER uses disk files that can become very large as you add
entries to your diary. For this reason, you must copy the program onto
a separate diskette before using it. Follow the instructions below.
1. Insert your DOS diskette in drive A and type FORMAT A:/S [RETURN]
2. Place a BLANK diskette in drive A and press [RETURN].
3. When formatting is complete, place the Magazette in drive A and
place the BLANK diskette in drive B. (If you have only one floppy
drive, place the Magazette in drive A and follow the steps below; the
computer will tell you when to switch diskettes.)
4. Type COPY A:DIARY.BAT B:AUTOEXEC.BAT [RETURN]
COPY A:DIARY.* B: [RETURN]
5. Label the diskette as a SECRET KEEPER WORKDISK.
To use the SECRET KEEPER WORKDISK, place it in your A drive and press
Ctrl+Alt+Del, or type AUTOEXEC from an A> prompt.
USING THE SECRET KEEPER
When you run the program, there will be a title screen with three menu
choices. At this screen, and at any other menu in the program , use the
up and down arrows key to select your option. The menu choice that is
shown in reversed text is the item that will be selected when you press
[RETURN].
OPEN YOUR DIARY - This is the selection you will use to write in, read,
print, or edit your diary. This selection will be covered thoroughly
later, but before you can OPEN your diary, you must MAKE one.
MAKING A DIARY
If you were keeping a normal diary, this step would be the equivalent of
buying a diary, writing your name in it, and hiding the key. However, with
THE SECRET KEEPER, you don't have to buy the diary, and you don't have to
worry about a key. You MUST make a diary before you can work with one.
You will be asked for a password for your diary. The password will be the
"key". It should be one or two words (16 chars. maximum) that no one other
than yourself is likely to guess. The password will be used to encode the
filename for your diary files on the diskette. You will need to type in
the password each time you OPEN your diary. If you select to encrypt your
diary (this will be discussed later), the password will be used to create
a unique secret code that only the computer will be able to decipher. If
the password you select is already in use, or if it is invalid, you will
be forced to enter a different password. After you have entered a
password, you will be asked if you want your diary to be encrypted. The
advantages and disadvantages are outlined below.
ENCRYPTED DIARIES - no one will be able to read your diary, even if they
were to use the TYPE command from DOS or load the diary file into a
word-processor. The data on the diskette that makes up your diary is
coded with a special cipher derived from your password. Thus, no two
codes will be the same, and the code is virtually impossible to crack
without knowing the password. The DISADVANTAGE to encypting your diary
is that the program will take longer to save and load entries. The added
delay is only a few seconds, but if you want the program to run as fast
as possible, and you plan to hide your diary diskette anyway, then you
probably don't need to encrypt your diary.
NON-ENCRYPTED DIARIES - A non-encrypted diary is still inaccessible to
persons who don't know your password. Also, because the computer does
not have to encode each diary entry before saving it to disk, the
program will run faster. The DISADVANTAGE is that if someone were intent
enough to discover your secrets, and they knew their way around the
computer, they could use DOS commands or a word-processor to view your
diary files.
After you have answered the above ENCRYPTION prompt, you will return to
the main menu. From here you can OPEN your diary and start adding
entries.
OPENING YOUR DIARY
This option allows you to open your diary and "write" in it. However,
your diary has an "electronic lock" that keeps prying eyes away from
your secrets, so you will have to provide the proper "key." The key is
your password. When you select OPEN YOUR DIARY from the main menu, the
first thing you will be asked to do is type in your PASSWORD. If you
type in the wrong password, or have not yet MADE your diary, "invalid
password" will be printed. Pressing [RETURN] by itself at this point
will return to the main menu.
Once you have entered your password, you will be presented with a menu
that will allow you to ADD, EDIT, PRINT, or ERASE your diary.
ADD ENTRIES - Use this selection whenever you wish to add an entry to
your diary. You will be asked for the DATE and TIME of the entry. If
your computer has a built-in hardware clock, or if you have already
entered the date and time into your computer (perhaps when you turned it
on), then press [RETURN] at both of these prompts, and the date and time
will be automatically set. If the date or time you enter are invalid,
the computer will beep at you and wait for a valid item to be entered.
Then you will see a page of white "paper" appear on the screen with a
cursor flashing in the upper left corner. Type in your diary entry,
using up to 12 lines of forty characters each. The text window features
"word-wrap", so you don't need to worry about splitting words at the
right margin. Just keep typing and the computer will format the lines
for you. Use the arrow keys, backspace, insert, and delete to edit the
text as you type it in. When you are finished typing in your entry,
press END. This will cause the action menu to appear. You can then
choose to add more entries, or EDIT an existing entry.
VIEW OR EDIT AN EXISTING ENTRY - With this option, you can edit or just
view an entry that has already been ADDED to your diary. When you
select this option, you will be given a menu. The menu allows you two
different ways to choose an entry to view.
VIEW A LIST OF ENTRIES - If you select this option, the screen will
clear, and a list of entries currently in your diary will be printed
on the screen. If you have more entries than can fit on one screen,
you can flip between "pages" of the list by using the PG UP and PG DN
keys. To select an entry from the list, use the arrow keys to
position the bar on top of the entry, then press [RETURN].
SEARCH FOR A WORD OR PHRASE - Use this option if you don't know the
date and time of a particular entry, but you do know what text is on
the page. When selected, it will ask you to type in the word or
phrase you wish to search for. Simply type in the text you want to
find, and the program will search through all diary entries until it
finds the text you have typed in. If the text is not found, the
entry selection menu will be displayed.
After you have selected an entry with either of the two options above,
it will be printed on the screen, and the cursor will appear just as
described in the ADDING AN ENTRY section. You can either edit or type
over the text that is on the page. To exit, press END.
PRINT YOUR DIARY - this option will allow you to send a copy of
your diary to your printer. When selected, you will be asked for the
title and date to be printed on the cover page of your diary. If you do
not wish to have a cover page printed, just press [RETURN] at both of
these prompts. After you have answered these two prompts, the program
will print your diary, in the order of date and time. When printing is
finished, you will be returned to the action menu.
ERASE YOUR DIARY - If, for some reason, you wish to erase your
diary, this is the option to use. When you select the erase option, you
must type the word YES in all capital letters, before the program will
erase your diary. Anything else will cause the program to ignore the
request. Once you have erased your diary, it cannot be retrieved.
EXITING THE PROGRAM
There are exit options on the two major menus, but you can exit the
program at any time by pressing F8. However, it is always safest to exit
the program from a menu.