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ADDENDUM.DOC
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1993-07-26
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ADDENDUM TO PADLOCK.DOC FOR PC PADLOCK V2.3
-------------------------------------------
Several new features have been added to PC Padlock V2.3 that were unable to be
included in the printed manual. They are the monochrome mode, activity
logging, drive/disk changing, and corruption protection. Please read this
document in it's entirety, especially if you desire logging or are a network
user. Here is how to operate these new functions :
MONOCHROME MODE
A new command line switch, "/m", will cause PC Padlock to come up in black and
white (monochrome) mode. This is useful for mono monitors, as well as laptop
and notebook computers. To use this feature, simply type "padlock a: /m" from
the DOS command line, or see the section on ALTERNATIVES TO COMMAND LINE
SWITCHES later in this document.
ACTIVITY LOGGING
Another command line switch causes PC Padlock to log all successful locking,
unlocking, clearing, encryption, decryption, and purging to a text file. This
file will contain one line for each entry, with the date and time it occurred.
To log all activity for a session, type "padlock a: /l" from the DOS command
line, or see the ALTERNATIVES TO COMMAND LINE SWITCHES section. Unless the
environment variable mentioned in this section is used, this file will be
named "pcpl0000.log" by default. It may be viewed, edited, deleted, or
printed.
DRIVE/DISK CHANGING
You no longer have to enter the drive letter from the command line when using
PC Padlock. Merely type "padlock", and when the program comes up, it will
prompt you to select a drive letter. You may do this either by hitting the A
or B keyboard keys, or clicking the mouse over the A: or B: blocks located in
the DISK INFORMATION header. Also, you may change disks in a drive while the
program is running, or select a new drive letter altogether. Just select the
new disk or drive as before, once the desired disk is in the drive.
NOTE
Do not remove a disk while PC Padlock is performing any of it's functions such
as locking or encrypting. Your disk may be permanently damaged.
ALTERNATIVES TO COMMAND LINE SWITCHES
The command line can get somewhat long, especially if you are using both
switches, such as "padlock a: /l /m". There are several methods to cutting
down the typing time on lines such as these. One is to use the environment
variable built into PC Padlock. This variable is "pcpl", and the first
character denotes color or monochrome mode. This is followed by a comma and a
four character designation for the log file. The log file designation must be
four characters long. Here are some examples, assuming you use no command
line switches :
no environment variable color mode, with no logging
set pcpl=c color mode, with no logging
set pcpl=m mono mode, with no logging
set pcpl=c,0001 color mode, with log file named "pcpl0001.log"
set pcpl=m,dave mono mode, with log file named "pcpldave.log"
To setup the environment variable, use any text editor and edit your
"autoexec.bat" file, located in your hard drive's root directory. Then simply
add the appropriate line, such as "set pcpl=m", anywhere in the file. The
next time you reboot your computer, the options you selected will be automatic
every time you run PC Padlock.
Other alternatives include using the doskey program in DOS V5.0 or later. An
example of this would be to add the line "doskey pl=padlock $* /l /m" to your
autoexec.bat file. You could then simply type "pl" or "pl a:" to start the
program. Or you could write a batch file to do the job. See your DOS manual
for more detail on these functions.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR NETWORK USERS
If network users desire activity logging, each computer on the network must
use the environment variable method and specify a different four character
designator for the log file name. Failure to do so may result in incomplete
logs and/or program abortion.
QUALITY CHECKING
Several things can damage a floppy disk that are completely beyond the control
of the PC Padlock program itself. Although these conditions are rare, their
detection and prevention are now built into the program.
Floppy disk failure itself can cause data corruption. We all have had a
floppy or two at one time or another that just suddenly went bad and was
unusable. This is more likely to happen with off-brand or generic disks, and
also disks that are used constantly for long periods of time. Although most
manufacturers guarantee their disks for life, it is just good common computer
sense to replace heavily-used disks on a yearly basis. Nonetheless, PC
Padlock will now make every effort to detect bad disks and abort the program
if the disk looks strange in any way.
Disks are also scanned for any non-standard DOS formatting scheme. Numbers of
sectors, clusters, sectors-per-cluster, and other data is checked against
accepted norms, and the program refuses to operate on any disk it senses to be
non-standard.
A brief interruption in power to the system or a general computer "glitch"
itself can sometimes confuse an already running program. If any of these
situations cause a data inconsistency, the program will shut down and return
to DOS.
PC Padlock will not only check for these situations with each new disk, but
also before every function it performs on the disk. This affords the user
maximum protection against bad or damaged disks.