The purpose of this application is to provide a small amount of security for your Acorn micro, no piece of software can provide full security as any machine can be reset back to the factory settings thus you can by-pass any loading of applications such as this one.
Background.
This application was developed by me on an Acorn A4 notebook, so that if it was stolen it would cause the thief a problem when using or trying to sell my machine. I have heard a story about a a PC thief being caught when a prospective purchaser switched the machine on and was confronted by a password prompt, and when asking the vendor for the password and him not knowing it, contacted the police as suggested by the protection software. The thief was arrested and the PC was returned to its owner. This prompted me to write this application as my A4 means a lot to me (about £2,500.00).
How it works.
The application has two modes of operation, the first, and default mode, loads the application on the iconbar, the second mode, issues the security screen then, when the correct password is entered, the application ends.
There are also to kind of security screen that can be configured.
1. A detailed security window, showing the owners details (name, address, telephone number etc...), the computer details and a message to prompt any prospective purchaser to contact the police if the vendor does not have the security code. Also the unique ID code of your machine that is stored in a special chip inside the new Acorn risc machines (A4000, A3010 A3020, A4 etc...) is displayed.
2. A summary window, showing a small message (user definable) and prompting for the security code.
Both of these windows cover the whole to the desktop with a very large transparent window, this stops all access to the icons below the security window. If by chance a running application sends one of its windows in front of secures, the security window will be bought back to the top if the pointer leaves secures window.
Secure multi-tasks so no application is stopped when the security window covers the desktop.
Running from the iconbar.
When you run secure in the default mode, running from the iconbar, you will have access to the secure menu, this has the following options.
---------------
| Info >|
| ----------- |
| Setup... |
| Code... |
| ----------- |
| Quit |
---------------
Info
This shows you the usual “About this program” information.
Setup...
This brings up the setup window, this allows you to change the information displayed on the detail and summary security windows. You must click select over the save button to retain any changes you have made, you will then be asked for the current security code, if the code is entered correctly the changes will be stored in the application.
Code...
This brings up a window that allows you to change the security code. You are prompted for the new code required, then a validation code, this should be the same as the new code and is just needed to check if you typed the new code correctly. Once the new code is entered, you are prompted to enter the current one. If all is well the new code is set and stored away in the application.
This window also allows you to select which type of window you would like, if any, when the application is first started or when you click select over the icon on the iconbar.
You can also choose to do a power on check when the application is run. When you say “YES” to the power on check, the security window will not appear when a soft reset is used ie. the BREAK key hit. This is useful when secure is run from an launcher application such as MENON.
Quit
This option ends the application and removes it from the iconbar.
Note:The detail information and security code are stored in the application in an encoded form to make it more difficult to obtain the security code.
Suggested ways to run secure.
1. Running from MENON will allow you to have secure re-run when a soft reset is used.
2. Install secure on the root directory of your hard disc, when the drive icon is clicked secure will run.
3. Start secure as part of your hard disc auto boot procedure. This can be done as follows:-
a. Press f12, from the command line.
b. Type the command: Configure Drive 4
c. Type the command: ADFS (or whatever your filing system is ie. IDFS)
d. Type the command: OPT 4,2
e. Type the command: Configure Boot
f. Copy the !Boot application to your hard discs root directory. the application !Boot is supplied as part of secure.
Security Code.
You do not need to use a Security Code when you first use secure, just press return when prompted.
Icon bar.
To stop secure from loading onto the iconbar all you need to to is add the -noboot parameter to the run command ie:-
!Run ADFS::HARDDISC4.$.!Secure3 -noboot
Or if you are using my !Boot application, you should add -noboot to the first line in the file “DeskBoot” that is stored in the !Boot application directory.
Note: you must type -noboot in lower case.
This version
============
This version now follows the guidelines laid down in the Acorn RISC OS 3 Styles Guide.
There is no difference in the main facilities of this application, only the interface has been altered to follow the style guide.
