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University of Vaasa, Finland, Sun IPX SPARCstation garbo.uwasa.fi
has a large collection of PD and shareware PC programs available by
anonymous ftp or mail server. The file /pc/ts/0news-ts contains news
about the TS-programs in the /pc/ts directory (in reverse order).
This text, which you now have, is an extract from the 0news-ts file.
..................................................................
Prof. Timo Salmi Co-moderator of comp.archives.msdos.announce
Moderating at garbo.uwasa.fi anonymous FTP archives 128.214.87.1
Faculty of Accounting & Industrial Management; University of Vaasa
Internet: ts@uwasa.fi Bitnet: salmi@finfun ; SF-65101, Finland
..................................................................
Mon 12-Apr-93: I have updated
"PESTIKID.EXE Keep your computer to yourself, lock keyboard"
This program locks the keyboard and turns off alt-ctrl-del until you
give your selected ascii code. As Iain Sillars sillarsi@logica.co.uk
kindly noted, the ascii code 000 locks the system so that "the
computer would not release without being switched off". In
accordance to Iain's suggestion I have narrowed the range of
acceptable asciis to 1-255. PESTIKID.EXE is in the upgraded
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle22.zip package. Please note that as my
other recent updates it has been packed with PKZIP version 2.04G.
Sun 6-Dec-92: I found a bug in my TDEL.EXE "Timo's safe recursive
delete files and remove directories" version 1.2.
The previous version sometimes detected non-existing directories.
I think I pinpointed the elusive error in my code and hopefully have
this bug corrected.
While I was at it I also included a more detailed message why a
directory cannot be removed. Example: "Directory not empty: Contains
2 subdirectories and 1 files".
TDEL.EXE skips read-only files, but reports them. The updated
version also reports hidden and system files (but does not allow
deleting them).
For Unix users I would describe TDEL.EXE as an MsDos counterpart
rather than a direct port of the rm command. For MsDos users one
could call TDEL.EXE a combined file deletion and directory-tree
pruning utility.
TDEL.EXE is a part of my consequently updated fifth utility
collection from garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle21.zip.
Thu 26-Nov-92: I have updated my TDEL.EXE "Timo's safe recursive
delete". Besides being able to delete files, this program includes
the option of removing directories recursively. The new version does
the removing from bottom up, which makes using the utility very
convenient. Of course you'll first have to make the directories
empty by deleting the files from them, if any, but that is easy by
first applying TDEL recursively on the files. A small practice set
for ramdisk is included, because even with safe deleting and
removing one has to know exactly what one is doing!
The old method of removing from top to bottom has been preserved
for compatibility. It has a special switch /f (force Forward).
TDEL.EXE is a part of the consequently updated fifth utility
collection from me garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle20.zip.
Tue 6-Oct-92: I have updated my fifth utility collection to be
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle19.zip.
CMOS.EXE "Display of the CMOS information" is a program that
reads your battery backupped system information. The program now
takes an optional switch /BW to run on an LDC laptop so that only
two colors (LightGray / Black) are used. CMOS can take ? as a
parameter. It then gives the usage information.
CLOBBER.EXE "Delete files beyond undelete" is a new program in
the collection. As you know there are several programs that can
undelete deleted files, most notably the external undelete.exe
program that comes with MsDos 5.0. CLOBBER works by rewriting your
destination file full with ? and then deleting the file. Thus if one
undeletes the file the original contents is no longer there. Be
realistic if you wish a water-tight security. But beware. Although
this can foil a "simple" undelete, there are programs that can read
the sectors of the disk directly. If you update a sensitive file
that often leaves old, unattached clusters of the file on the disk,
and those can be read by a skillful snoop. On the other hand use
CLOBBER judiciously because as a general rule you will lose the file
for good (which is the exact purpose of CLOBBER). I have not been
able to evaluate how well CLOBBER performs on a badly fragmented
file. - All in all, there is a lesson to be learned here for those
who trust encryption programs to protect their sensitive files. You
should never encrypt them anywhere else than on a ram disk. If you
use harddisk for even a temporary decryption, it may leave readable
portions on the hard disk. It is not easy to access them, but it is
not overly difficult. For example I have the tools and knowhow to do
it. (No I will not disclose which and how, so please do not ask.) -
I have tried to make CLOBBER fast. It uses its own 64Kb internal
buffer, a kind of a programmed "disk cache".
The programs are mostly self-documenting, but I added the
documentations to the TSUTLE.INF information file so that they also
are in one place.
Sat 6-Jun-92: I have updated to garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle18.zip
as follows. I have written a new SETVIDEO.EXE program for setting
the CRT video mode. This program in fact originates from my own need
to set the 132x43 text mode for (MsKermit) terminal emulation in
order to read wide screens when connected to main frames like the
Vaasa University garbo.uwasa.fi and chyde.uwasa.fi.
It is easy to set the 40x25 in Turbo Pascal by applying
TextMode(C40). Likewise it is fairly trivial to set the 80x43/50
text mode by applying TextMode (C80 + font8x8). But I initially had
difficulties in finding out how to set the 132 text modes until
David R. Conrad (David_Conrad@mts.cc.wayne.edu) kindly informed me
that the interrupt 10hex function 00hex can be used for this purpose
too. The way it goes is that the standard defines video modes from
00hex to 13hex, but in fact there are many more modes which depend
on the particular video adapter card. This information can be found
in Ralf Brown's list of interrupts INTERRUP.A in inter30a.zip
(located in the /pc/programming directory at garbo.uwasa.fi).
The problem is that the different video adapter cards have
different defaults for the beyond 13hex video modes. I have used the
following solution. You give the video mode as a hex parameter to
SETVIDEO.EXE rather than choose from a menu of preset video modes.
The values to give for the different video adapter cards can be
found in the said INTERRUP.A information file if you look at INT
10h, function 00h. There is a very long list in there. For my own
386s the text modes are
$00 = 40x25 $01 = 40x25 $02 = 80x25 $03 = 80x25
$50 = 80x30 $51 = 80x43 $52 = 132x25 $53 = 132x25
$54 = 132x30 $55 = 132x43 $56 = 132x60
Sat 21-Mar-92: I have updated my CMOS.EXE program which displays
information from your battery backupped CMOS memory.
- Made the CMOS clock display continuous.
- Omitted the weekday information because it has turned out to be
volatile.
- Added the display of whether a math coprocessor is installed
according to the CMOS configuration information.
I have consequently released an updated version of my fifth utility
collection. It is now garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle17.zip.
Mon 2-Mar-92: The modern PCs have a battery backupped CMOS memory
which includes the backed-up clock to store the date and the time,
and configuration information. This battery usually lasts for
several years, but eventually it will lose power. The current
(pardon the pun) state of the battery can be checked by programming
since as long as the battery is giving power is a certain bit in
CMOS memory is on, and if the battery looses power the bit will be
off. I have written a program CMOSALAR.EXE to read this bit. If the
battery bit is off, an alarm will be sounded. One option is to put
it in your autoexec.bat where it will act as a sentinel for you.
Another similar program added is CMOS.EXE which displays
information from your battery backupped CMOS memory. A color video
adapter, and at least an AT PC is required.
CMOSALAR.EXE and CMOS.EXE are part of my hence updated fifth
utility collection garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle16.zip. The other
three programs in the package are
MSPLIT.EXE Split Unix elm email messages, for UseNet users
PESTIKID.EXE Keep your computer to yourself, lock keyboard
TDEL.EXE Timo's safe recursive delete for files & dirs
PESTIKID.EXE has a small, invisible correction. The other two have
not been changed.
Sat 18-Jan-92: I have updated my PESTIKID.EXE program which locks
the keyboard (unless the user knows the code to unlock it). The
following features have been added:
- The alt-ctrl-del combination is inactivated for the time the
program is running. Thus the pesty user cannot beat PESTIKID.EXE
by the simple alt-ctrl-del warm boot. The user either has to know
the unlock code or reset your PC physically.
- There is an optional message that is flashed to the screen if any
other key is pressed except the unlock code. The message is
invoked by a new /w (warning word) switch. You can choose the
word yourself, or if you just use /w, "Hands off" will be flashed
as the default. The flash is given in LightRed on Blue. The
screen is restored to blank Black after the flash.
- The cursor can be turned off for the duration of the program. The
new /c switch is for turning the cursor off.
- Improved a bit the error messages if incorrect parameters are
given in the program call
PESTIKID.EXE is a part of my consequently updated fifth utility
collection garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle15.zip. The other two
programs in the package are
MSPLIT.EXE Split Unix elm email messages
TDEL.EXE Timo's safe recursive delete
but they have not been changed.
Sun 15-Dec-91: I have updated my TDEL.EXE safe interactive recursive
delete program.
- It now accepts multiple file definitions. In other words the
usage now is TDEL FileMask1 [[FileMask2]..] [switches]. For
example TDEL /s c:\*.bak c:\*.bck would delete all *.bak and
*.bck files on drive C:.
- Added a /c "set Counter on" switch to give the count of the
deleted, skipped, and the total of found files.
- Corrected an error in the recursive mode of the program. It
prevented full recursion when the file mask was not *.*.
- Included an interception if the user tries to put wildcards in
the directory part of the mask, as in TDEL C:\TEXT*\*.BCK.
- When the program exits it now clears the keyboard typeahead
buffer on exit.
- Included a simple example on the help screen (which is invoked if
you call TDEL without any parameters).
TDEL.EXE is part of my hence updated fifth utility collection
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle14.zip.
Thu 5-Dec-1991: I have updated my MSPLIT.EXE program for splitting
Unix email files on a PC.
- Earlier the split was effected when MSPLIT first encountered a
"From: " and then a "Subject: " on the next line. I have made it
more general. The first line start criterion is now "From: " or
"From ". The second line criterion is "Subject: " or
"Return-Path: " or "Article: " or "Received: ".
- The count of messages is now given when the messages are directed
to a single file separated by formfeeds (the /f switch).
- The output now goes to the default directory. Not forcibly to
the directory of input.
- New switch /oDirectory to optionally direct the output to a
desired destination
MSPLIT.EXE is part of the updated garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle13.zip
package.
Sun 1-Nov-91: I have written a TDEL.EXE program for safe deleting of
files. It asks for confirmation before deleting. Besides this
ordinary usage TDEL has an optional, special feature. One quite
frequently asked PC related question seems to be how one can delete
all the files from a directory and all its subdirectories, and
finally also the directory and subdirectories. There are several
solutions to this problem, and I wanted to add one more putting
emphasis on the safety of the operation. TDEL.EXE has a switch for
recursing into subdirectories. TDEL.EXE can optionally be used also
for removing directories and subdirectories. TDEL.EXE is part of the
updated garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle12.zip package.
Thu 28-Nov-91: Occasionally I want to download to my PC the email
messages that I have received on our Unix machine (chyde.uwasa.fi).
The messages are in a single file. I want to be able to split the
email messages into separate files (or insert formfeed between them)
to easily print them on our PC network laser printer. I wrote an
MSPLIT.EXE program to do the splitting for me. I included it in my
now updated garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle11.arc utilities package.
Let me give some further background. On chyde I read my email
using elm (2.3 pl11), and I have the following definition in the elm
options submenu: P)rint mail using : cat >> /u2/econ/ts/posti/mail.
This means that each message in the mail file starts by
From:
Subject:
To:
Date:
MSPLIT.EXE splits the messages into mail.001, mail.002, etc when it
encounters the From: Subject: pair. Or if you define so (/f switch)
it inserts a formfeed before each message in a single mail.001 file.
The program has also optional switches for page length (/p) and
performing a translation to Scandinavian ascii (/s), ie { to a", [
to A", and so on.
Sat 20-Jul-91: We had a welcome, but a very noisy visit from from my
wife's best friend's family with two incredibly lively kids. Between
their reverberatingly intensive sessions of playing my computer
games, I had to device a simple, temporary lock for the computer,
and came up with pestikid.exe. (I just can't resist the challenge of
making up these puns in a language that is not my own). The program
simply intercepts all input from the keyboard except for a given
ascii code (I used 150), which unlocks the keyboard. Since I felt it
is time to start my fifth collection of utilities, I put it in a new
/pc/ts/tsutle10.arc package, which is now available from
garbo.uwasa.fi anonymous FTP archives.