This INIT may not work correctly with new system software, because it makes some assumptions about the configuration and IDs of Finder menus, which Apple may modify in a new Finder release. It SHOULD not cause crashes (I didn't say it won't…), but it may disable the wrong items, possibly in the wrong menu. I will try to release updates to fix problems related to changes in system software .
No Erase is also subject to conflict with extensions and control panels that modify the “Special” menu by INSERTING items (appending items at the end should be OK).
No Erase only works with the “real” Finder (type 'FNDR' and creator 'MACS'). It won't do anything if At Ease is running.
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The reason I wrote this INIT was to help prevent accidental erasure of floppys, disks...(anything that can be erased from the Finder). Your startup disk is protected against accidental erasure because it holds the active system. But if you have more than one hard disk, the other ones don't get that “automatic” protection.
So I wrote this quick hack to hide commands in the “Special” menu from users who are not supposed to use them. When No Erase is installed, it disables selected items in the “Special” menu. You can't access these items unless you hold down a “hot key” while pulling down the menu. You can specify items to disable and the “hot key” to hold down to enable them with ResEdit. These informations are stored in the 'Pref' resource ID 128. You can specify a “hot key” for every item it the “Special” menu. For items that don't require the “hot key”, set the code to zero. This INIT was released with the following settings : no item requires “hot key”, but someone may have changed this before you received it.
No Erase uses the process manager to check if the Finder is the front app. Thus, it requires System 7.0 or higher. If you install it under System 6.x or lower, it won't do anything nor should it cause the system to crash, but this has not been tested.
No Erase is free and may be distributed freely. Please, don't distribute the INIT without this document.
I know the icon is ugly (fortunately, you won't see it at startup), but hey it's only a hack.
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Disclaimer
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This software comes without any warranty. It has not been extensively tested.
Use it at your own risk.
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Author
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Feel free to send me comments, suggestions or bug reports.
Patrick Stadelmann
Vergers 22
2022 Bevaix
SWITZERLAND
e-mail : Patrick.Stadelmann@etudiants.unine.ch
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Version history
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1.0a1
First try...
1.0a2
Fixes a bug which caused sporadic crashes (forgot to initialize some ProcessInfoRec fields...).
1.0a3
Now save and restore register a1 (some programms expect a1 to be preserved by some Toolbox routines even if IM says these routines may modify a1).
1.0a4
Finally correctly saves and restores registers
1.0 — First released version
Now dims the “Erase disk” item when the “hot” key is up.
Now stores “hot key” code in rsrc 'pref' ID 128.
1.0.1 — July 14, 1994
Fixed a nasty bug when running At Ease (No Erase still doesn't do anything in At Ease,
but it won't crash it anymore).
1.1 — July 30, 1994
Changed preference resource type to 'Pref' because 'pref' is reserved by Apple.
Added ability to specify “hot keys” for every items in the “Special” menu