Black Box 4/BlackBox.cdr/dosutils/accnts.arj/ACCOUNT.TXT

Text File | 1991-10-18 | 13KB | 400 lines

                                    ACCOUNT
                             The PC Control Program
                          Copyright 1991 Thomas Kellar




Introduction

Account is a collection of four programs that can work together to help you
gain a better understanding of how your Personal Computer works and to
help you gain control over it by collecting data about how it runs and
controlling aspects of its operation.  The programs were written in assembler
and C for MS-DOS compatible microcomputers running versions 2.1
through 5.0 of MS-DOS.  The programs require at most 128K of memory
and have no display adapter requirements except that you should have one.


    account.exe  collects and timestamps virtually all operations on an
    MS-DOS based computer. Requires 3K bytes of memory to run.


    accblock.exe  disables specific operations on a PC. Requires 3K
    bytes of memory to run.


    accstop.exe is a separate program used to stop the previous
    two programs from running.  Requires 1K memory to run.


    accdisp.exe  formats and displays the data collected by account.exe
    into a readable format.  Requires 128K memory to run.




The Programs

ACCOUNT.EXE

Description

This program  keeps a list of all files that were accessed after it is started. It
records-in a file-the type of  access, the time and date of the access and, of
course, the name of the file. Access means all opens, deletes, file attribute
changes, file closes and renames, it also includes all disk directory deletes
and creations as well as the names of all files that were run or executed.
account.exe must be started from the MS-DOS prompt but will run
concurrently with any multi-tasking programs such as Windows  3.0 or
DESQview without any problems. account.exe is a terminate and stay
resident program.



Program Running

Change to the directory that contains the program account.exe and type
account at the prompt. A file name can be given on the command line  for an
output file but:

          If a file name is given on the command line then
          a complete path name must be given (including
          the drive name).

          However, a drive name (only) can be given (e.g. D:)
          which will change the drive the default file will reside on,
          but not the path.

To run account.exe type

        account [drive: | filename] <Return>


Examples of Running

         A>account a:account.act

Running the account program account.exe from a floppy disk with a floppy
disk file named account.act as the file to store the collected data.

or               C>a:account a:account.act

Running the account program account.exe from a floppy disk with a floppy
disk file named account.act as the file to store the collected data.  The same
the prior example but the logged on disk drive is C:.

or        C>account d:

Running account.exe from C: drive with the output data going to the default
directory path but on drive D: so that the complete path to the account
data file is d:\act\account.act.

or        C>c:\etc\account c:\temp\acdata.act

The executable program resides in  directory etc of drive c: and the data file
will become acdata.act in the directory temp on drive c:.

or        C>account c:\msd\account\account.act

Running account.exe from the current directory (or on the current PATH)
and placing the output data in a file named account.act in directory
msd\account on c: drive.

or        C>account

Running account from the current directory (or the current PATH) and
placing the output file in the default path and name which is
c:\act\account.act.




Program Notes

The account program records all file opens, file deletes, file renames, file
creates, new file creates, and temporary file creates.  The account program
records all FCB type file closes but not file handle type file closes  for
handles of number greater than 4 because of an interesting thing that
MS-DOS does at the termination of a program or command:

14 close files are automatically generated at the end of each internal and
external MS-DOS command (this is true for versions 3.1 through 5.0).  The
handle numbers are from 5 to 19 inclusive and it is suspected they are sent
out as a precaution-it must be pointed out that the files that are closed are not
opened (they are not opened normally) and that the closes must have no
effect and it is suspected that they are done because of a software fix that was
installed years ago and never removed.  The 14 closes are in addition to the
closes that reflect opens that were done in the program that was run.  The 14
closes also occur after each command execution of any type (e.g., a dir
command).  As this number is inordinately large  they are not recorded.

The account.act file that stores the records of disk/file accesses can become
large very fast and probably should be looked at fairly often to see if there is
any danger of it filling up the disk.

When the account program is run, it zeros out (or blanks) the file that it
records data in prior to starting.  So if there is data in the file that needs to be
saved, it will need to be copied to another file name, e.g.,

    echo copy old account file to saved file
    copy  c:\act\account.act  c:\act\account.old
      rem copy works better than rename in this
     rem context
    echo starting up account in \act\account.act
    c:\act\account c:\act\account.act

When recording file closes that use file handles, account has no access to the
file name so only the file handle is recorded in the output file,

You should not run two versions of the program at the same time (although
they will not fail). The default name and path for the data file is
c:\act\account.act.




ACCSTOP.EXE

Program Description

Is a program that is run to stop account.exe from collecting data or to stop
accblock.exe from blocking system functions.

Program Running

From the directory that the program accstop.exe resides in type

        accstop  <type a return here>

Examples of Running

        C>c:\act\accstop  <return key here>

Means run the program accstop.exe in directory act from the logged on c
drive.

Program Notes

accstop.exe needs to be run to stop the accounting program account.exe from
collecting data or to stop accblock.exe from blocking system calls.  It should
be run prior to examining the accounting data file (generally account.act) but
that is not absolutely required.  Also accstop.exe can be run even it neither of
those two programs is running.




ACCBLOCK.EXE

Program Description

Is a program that when run will terminate itself but prevent certain type of
disk file manipulations from occurring in the future.  Manipulations or
changes such as file deletes or file renames.  The blockage will continue until
the computer is re-booted or the program accstop.exe is run.

Program Running

Log on to the drive containing the program and change to its directory.  Type
the accblock followed by a Return.

Examples of Running

        C>c:\act\accblock  <Return key here>

Causes accblock.exe in the directory act to be run.

Program Notes

accblock.exe stops delete files (both FCB and file handle types), rename files
(both FCB and file handle types), rmdir (remove directory), and change/get
file attributes.

Use accstop.exe to stop accblock.exe from blocking system calls.






ACCDISP.EXE

Program Description

accdisp.exe is a program that is run to format and display the data that was
collected by account.exe over the span of its run.

The program has three exclusive ways it can run.  They are indicated by
switches on the command line:

    A   -1 indicates to the program that it is to display time and type
    ordered output only.

    A   -2 indicates to the program that it is to display a time ordered
    output only and no type or name ordered outputs.

    Nothing but blanks or a filename means display in all three formats.

The meaning of the display formats is discussed below.

Program Running

From the directory that the program accdisp.exe resides in type

        accdisp [-1 | -2] [filename] <return>

Examples of Running

        C>c:\act\accdisp  <return key here>

Means run the program accdisp.exe in directory act from the logged on c
drive using the default input file.  The default input file is account.act in the
current directory.

        C>c:\act\accdisp -2 acc.act >acc.out

Means run accdisp.exe in directory act on c drive using acc.act in the current
directory as the input file and only display the time-ordered data and send the
output to the file acc.out in the current directory.

Program Notes

The program displays the output in three formats:

The first is a list of all that was recorded by account.exe displayed in a time-
ordered format.

The second is a list of all that was recorded by account.exe in type ordered
format (what that means is that all file deletes are grouped together and
separated from all file creations which are grouped together, and so on).

The third is a list of all that was recorded by account.exe in a file ordered
format  (i.e., everything recorded for a particular file name is grouped
together).





Registration

All four programs and their documentation are copyrighted  and are
distributed and intended as shareware.  The programs are not free.  It is
expected that if you decide to use them that you should register for their use.
The registration process enables you to use the programs on one computer
with what ever number of backup copies (i.e., backup only)  are required for
your operation. In order to become a registered user send your name along
with the registration fee to the author listed below.

The registration fee is $20 and should be sent in check form to the author

            Thomas Kellar
at
            807 Saint Nicholas Avenue
            Dayton, Ohio 45410

Any questions or comments should be directed to the same.

If you want for an additional $3, a 5.25 inch floppy disk containing a copy of
the programs and documentation will be sent to you  ($23 total).




Warranty

There are no explicit or implicit warranties given for this product.  The
author disclaims any responsibility for its effects.  The user of the program is
the one who should claim responsibility for any adverse effects due to its use.
All effort has been made by the author to make the program reflect the
documentation and the documentation reflect the program .


Copying the Program

These programs and their documentation shall not be copied for  distribution
purposes except in the packed compressed form they started in: they were
initially distributed in a single file named accnts.exe which when run on an
MS-DOS based computer self-extracts a number of files of which this
documentation is one.


Use of this product implies agreement with the above conditions.




Appendix

Installation

It is best that the account programs be installed on a hard disk inside a
directory dedicated to their own use.  If this is done, then operational
procedures become fairly simple.  To install this program in a directory
named act on a hard drive letter c:

To create the directory, from the MS-DOS prompt type

    mkdir c:\act  <type return key too>

To copy the files from where ever the account programs currently reside type

    copy acc* c:\act  <type return key too>

If the programs reside on a floppy disk, then type

    copy a:*.* c:\act  <type return key too>

Operation

The following control files can be used to run the account programs.  They
must be typed in to a batch file (.bat) using a text editor and named with
appropriate names.

To start up the accounting program and decode the account.exe program
output and delete the old output file (it is assumed that all the programs listed
exist in a directory named act on C drive):

    rem stop accounting, save old, restart
     rem accounting, analyze output, delete old file
    accstop
    copy account.act  account.old
    account c:\act\account.act
    accdisp -2 c:\act\account.old >account.out
    del c:\act\account.old
    copy account.out con:
    echo done!




  MS-DOS and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation
and  DESQview is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems


PC Accounting Program V1.1

Copyright 1991 Thomas Kellar