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- INSTALL.DOC File
-
- Safe Erase Version 1.60
-
- (C) Copyright by Tom Williams, 1990-1991
-
-
- 1) Determine which directory contains your MS-DOS commands. This will
- be the directory containing the command.com file. Typically the
- directory containing the DOS commands is called <DOS>. Verify this by
- changing directories if not already in the DOS directory and typing: DIR
- COMMAND.COM. If command.com is found in the directory list, this is the
- correct directory. Copy the following files into this DOS directory:
-
- - killf.exe
- - retrieve.exe
- - buildtab.exe
- - killtab.exe
-
-
- 2) Edit your autoexec.bat file and type in a set comspec definition with
- the following format:
-
- SET COMSPEC=[drive:][path]COMMAND.COM
-
- Example:
-
- SET COMSPEC=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM
-
- The set comspec definition is necessary because KILLF.EXE will
- occasionally need to know where the command processor is located. The
- set comspec definition should therefore point to the drive and directory
- that contains your command.com file. This will be the directory in
- which you copied the 4 files above into in step one. If the drive and
- path are not correct or the set comspec definition is not put in the
- autoexec.bat file you probably will encounter the following MS-DOS error
- messages while trying to use KILLF:
-
- Invalid COMMAND.COM
-
- Cannot load COMMAND, system halted
-
- If these messages are encountered reboot the system and check the
- autoexec.bat file to make sure you have the set comspec definition and
- that it specifies the correct directory that contains the command.com
- file.
-
- 3) Step three is optional but highly recommended since it will speed up
- access to KILLF.EXE and make erasing files faster. Edit your
- autoexec.bat file and change the set path definition so that your DOS
- directory is the first directory in the list. This will cause your DOS
- directory to get searched first when DOS looks for KILLF.EXE. For
- example, if your set path definition in your autoexec.bat file looks
- something like:
-
- SET PATH=C:\TOOLS;C:\GAMES;C:\DOS;C:\CHARTS
-
- Change it to:
-
- SET PATH=C:\DOS;C:\TOOLS;C:\GAMES;C:\CHARTS
-
-
-
- How To Use Safe Erase
- ---------------------
-
-
- Once the steps above are completed, KILLF is used exactly how ERASE and
- DEL are used to erase files. Typing KILLF /? will bring up online help
- information on the usage of KILLF. There are several other Safe Erase
- programs that come with this package. The first is BUILDTAB.EXE. This
- can be used to build a Safe File Table on each of the disks or diskettes
- the user desires, however, this is strictly optional since KILLF will
- automatically check a disk before erasing any files to see if it has a
- Safe File Table. If the disk does not have a Safe File Table KILLF will
- first build the table, store the allocated clusters of the files to be
- erased into the table and then actually erase the files. A Safe File
- Table will get built on the disk the very first time the KILLF command
- is used on that particular disk. If the disk or diskette does not have
- a Safe File Table and is almost out of disk space, KILLF may not be able
- to build a Safe File Table until one or more files are deleted. KILLF
- will indicate that a Safe File Table could not be built and ask the user
- whether to proceed with the erase. If a file is erased and this creates
- enough space for the Safe File Table, KILLF will build one immediately
- after erasing the file. It is for this reason that the BUILDTAB program
- is provided and it is best used right after a disk or diskette is
- formatted. The Safe File Table is always built in the root directory of
- the disk or diskette. BUILDTAB is used simply by typing BUILDTAB or
- BUILDTAB [drive:] to build a table on a disk in another drive. Typing
- BUILDTAB /? will bring up online help information on the usage of
- BUILDTAB. Once again, use of BUILDTAB is strictly optional but will
- prevent the one situation in which the disk is too full to build a table
- and one or more files must be erased without the protection of having
- their cluster numbers stored in the Safe File Table.
-
- KILLTAB.EXE is used to remove a Safe File Table from a disk. KILLF will
- not erase a Safe File Table since it is a read-only file. You will only
- want to use KILLTAB if it is known that something corrupted the Safe
- File Table or you no longer wish to use Safe Erase. KILLTAB is used
- simply by typing KILLTAB or KILLTAB [drive:] to erase a table on a disk
- in another drive. Typing KILLTAB /? will bring up online help
- information on the usage of KILLTAB.
-
-
- Retrieving Files
- ----------------
-
- Retrieving files is easy with the Safe Erase Retrieve program. Just
- type RETRIEVE in the directory of the erased file or files. A panel
- will come up with all the killed files listed. Each file name will
- begin with a question mark. This is because when a file is erased one
- of the things that happen to that file is that its first character is
- changed to "σ". This lets MS-DOS know that the file is erased. Using
- the arrow keys move around to the files you want to retrieve and change
- the question mark to the correct character on each file that you want to
- retrieve. If you don't want to retrieve a particular file just leave
- the question mark alone. Once you have changed the question marks to
- the correct characters on all the files that you want to retrieve press
- F5 to retrieve them. That is all there is to it.
-
-
-