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Documentation for cALMER Utilities Series 134
Copyright (C) 1993 by cALMER Utilities
[All Rights Reserved]
cALMER Utilities
361 Somerville Road
Hornsby Heights, NSW 2077
Australia
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 2
Table of contents
I.TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.Table of contents 2
II.Introduction 7
III.Disclaimer 8
IV.NEW in Series 134 9
V.Registration Form 10
VI.AUTOEDIT 11
A.Purpose ............................................11
B.Associated files ...................................11
C.Syntax .............................................11
D.Structure of AUTOEDIT data file ....................11
E.General comments ...................................11
F.Installation .......................................12
VII.BOOTPAST 13
A.Purpose ............................................13
B.Associated files ...................................13
C.Installation .......................................13
D.Syntax .............................................13
E.General Comments ...................................14
F.Potential problems .................................14
VIII.CALMER.EXE 15
A.Purpose ............................................15
B.Associated files ...................................15
C.Syntax .............................................15
1. Update NBY Virus Signature File ...............15
2. Generate a formatted floppy disk for NBY ......15
3. Re-Install from packed files ..................15
4. Default setup of cALMER Utilities .............15
a) Force NBY to ignore hard disk ............16
b) Disable generation of Rescue Disk ........16
c) Let NBY Process answers automatically ....16
d) Auto-answer time for NBY .................16
e) Suppress NBY ROM-LOCK test ...............16
f) Allow COMMAND.COM File-Date changes ......16
g) Suppress SIPLUS ROM testing ..............16
h) Suppress SIPLUS CPU testing ..............16
i) Force existence of AT computer ...........16
j) Exploding Windows ........................16
k) Whistling Windows ........................16
l) Allow program interruptions by user ......16
m) Keep a log file of activities ............16
n) Outdated virus signature file ............16
o) Using SuperStor compression utility ......16
p) Register the cALMER Utilities ............16
q) Generate Distribution disk ...............17
5. Change cALMER Utilities colours ...............17
D.General comments ...................................17
(Page 2 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 3
Table of contents
E.Potential problems .................................17
IX.CALENDAR 18
A.Purpose ............................................18
B.Associated files ...................................18
C.Syntax .............................................18
D.General comments ...................................19
E.Potential problems .................................19
X.CAPSON 20
A.Purpose ............................................20
B.Associated files ...................................20
C.Installation .......................................20
D.Syntax .............................................20
E.General Comments ...................................20
F.Potential problems .................................20
XI. CCD 21
A.Purpose ............................................21
B.Associated files ...................................21
C.Syntax .............................................21
D.General comments ...................................21
E.Potential problems .................................22
XII.CURSOR 23
A.Purpose ............................................23
B.Associated files ...................................23
C.Installation .......................................23
D.Syntax .............................................23
E.General Comments ...................................23
F.Potential problems .................................23
XIII.DATETIME 24
A.Purpose ............................................24
B.Associated files ...................................24
C.Installation .......................................24
D.Syntax .............................................24
E.General comments ...................................24
F.Potential problems .................................25
XIV.DELBACK 26
A.Purpose ............................................26
B.Associated files ...................................26
C.Installation .......................................26
D.Structure of DELBACK data file .....................26
E.Syntax .............................................27
F.General comments ...................................28
G.Potential problems .................................28
XV.DISKFREE 29
A.Purpose ............................................29
B.Associated files ...................................29
C.Installation .......................................29
D.Syntax .............................................29
E.General Comments ...................................29
F.Potential problems .................................29
(Page 3 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 4
Table of contents
XVI. DL 30
A.Purpose ............................................30
B.Associated files ...................................30
C.Syntax .............................................30
D.General comments ...................................30
E.Potential problems .................................31
XVII.EE 32
A.Purpose ............................................32
B.Associated files ...................................32
C.Installation .......................................32
D.Syntax .............................................32
E.General comments ...................................32
F.Potential problems .................................32
XVIII.FASTNBY 33
A.Purpose ............................................33
B.Associated files ...................................33
C.Installation .......................................33
D.Structure of FASTNBY data file .....................33
E.Syntax .............................................33
F.General comments ...................................34
G.Potential problems .................................34
XIX.FORMAT 35
A.Purpose ............................................35
B.Associated files ...................................35
C.Syntax .............................................35
D.General Comments ...................................35
E.Potential problems .................................35
XX.FORMFEED 36
A.Purpose ............................................36
B.Associated files ...................................36
C.Installation .......................................36
D.Syntax .............................................36
E.General Comments ...................................36
F.Potential problems .................................36
XXI.KILLDIR 37
A.Purpose ............................................37
B.Associated files ...................................37
C.Installation .......................................37
D.Syntax .............................................37
E.General Comments ...................................37
F.Potential problems .................................37
XXII.LAZYBACK 38
A.Purpose ............................................38
B.Associated files ...................................38
C.Installation .......................................38
D.Structure of LAZYBACK data file ....................38
E.Syntax .............................................38
F.General Comments ...................................38
G.Potential problems .................................39
XXIII.MOVE 40
A.Purpose ............................................40
(Page 4 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 5
Table of contents
B.Associated files ...................................40
C.Installation .......................................40
D.Syntax .............................................40
E.General Comments ...................................40
F.Potential problems .................................40
XXIV.NBY 41
A.Purpose ............................................41
B.Associated files ...................................41
C.Syntax .............................................41
D.Installing NBY .....................................41
1. General information ...........................41
2. Automatic Answers .............................42
3. NBY Rescue Disk ...............................42
4. Force NBY to ignore hard disk .................43
5. Suppress NBY ROM-LOCK .........................43
6. Allow COMMAND.COM File-Date changes ...........43
7. Force existence of AT computer ................44
8. Allow NBY interruptions by user ...............44
9. Using SuperStor compression utility ...........44
10. Outdated Signature File ....................44
E.General comments ...................................44
F.Potential problems .................................45
G.NBY.CRC Data File Structure ........................46
H.What to do when a virus hits .......................46
I.Locking computer after viral attack ................46
XXV.NOCURSOR 48
A.Purpose ............................................48
B.Associated files ...................................48
C.Installation .......................................48
D.Syntax .............................................48
E.General Comments ...................................48
F.Potential problems .................................48
XXVI.Product Support 49
XXVII.QT2 50
A.Purpose ............................................50
B.Associated files ...................................50
C.Installation .......................................50
D.Syntax .............................................50
E.General Comments ...................................50
F.Potential problems .................................50
XXVIII.SHOWPOST 51
A.Purpose ............................................51
B.Features ...........................................51
C.Available from .....................................51
XXIX.SIPLUS 52
A.Purpose ............................................52
B.Associated files ...................................52
C.Installation .......................................52
D.Syntax .............................................52
E.General Comments ...................................52
F.Potential problems .................................52
(Page 5 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 6
Table of contents
XXX.STAMP 53
A.Purpose ............................................53
B.Associated files ...................................53
C.Installation .......................................53
D.Syntax .............................................53
E.General comments ...................................53
F.Potential problems .................................53
XXXI.TCT 54
A.Purpose ............................................54
B.Associated files ...................................54
C.Installation .......................................54
1. Function key definition .......................54
2. Cursor size ...................................54
3. Mouse speed and buttons .......................54
4. Keyboard repeat rate ..........................54
5. Delay before keyboard repeats .................55
6. Prompt Colours for different drives ...........55
7. Minimum / maximum drive for Alt Plus/Minus ....55
8. Alarm Handler .................................55
D.Syntax .............................................55
E.General comments ...................................55
F.Potential problems .................................55
XXXII.TODAY 57
A.Purpose ............................................57
B.Associated files ...................................57
C.Installation .......................................57
D.Syntax .............................................57
E.Structure of TODAY data file .......................57
F.General comments ...................................58
G.Potential problems .................................58
XXXIII.VL 59
A.Purpose ............................................59
B.Associated files ...................................59
C.Installation .......................................59
D.Syntax .............................................59
E.General Comments ...................................59
F.Potential problems .................................59
XXXIV.How to register 60
XXXV.Other Services by cALMER Utilities 61
XXXVI.Index 62
(Page 6 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 7
Introduction
II. INTRODUCTION
The cALMER Utilities is a series of IBM PC utilities written in
Australia and released as shareware. The shareware principle is
based on the idea that you try before you buy, rather than spending
your money and then detecting that the software is not suitable to
you. As a private user, you are entitled to use the cALMER
Utilities for a period of two months without registering. After
that evaluation time, if you continue to use the software, you must
register it. Upon paying the registration fee you will be mailed a
complete set of the latest release of the cALMER Utilities. The
cALMER Utilities can not be used in a business, corporation,
organisation, government or agency without an approved and current
site license.
Contact cALMER Utilities on 612+ (02) 482-1715 during business
hours to obtain site license information and product support. (see
page 49)
(Page 7 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 8
Disclaimer
III. DISCLAIMER
cALMER Utilities hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this
software, whether express or implied, including without limitation
any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a
particular purpose. cALMER Utilities will not be liable for any
special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due
to loss of data or any other reason, even if cALMER Utilities or an
agent of cALMER Utilities has been advised of the possibility of
such damages. In no event shall cALMER Utilities' liability for
any damages ever exceed the price paid for the license to use the
software, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the
software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the
software.
(Page 8 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 9
NEW in Series 134
IV. NEW IN SERIES 134
Changes since Series 133 include several minor bugfixes and
additions to program documentation. There are four new additions
to the cALMER Utilities: A floppy diskette formatting program
incorporating the features of BootPast, a general purpose Calendar
program, DATETIME, a program which automatically sets two
environment variables with the current date and time in whatever
format you desire and VL to allow the setting of Volume Labels on
any drive.
SHOWPOST support has been added to most programs (The SHOWPOST
card is a Power On Self Test (P.O.S.T.) card for industry standard
architecture 286, 386 and 486 computers (see page 51). Designed
and built by Custom Built Computers (CBC) Pty Ltd in Sydney
Australia. SHOWPOST can display error codes generated by most
computer systems upon powering up). In other words, we have
finally got the ability to display some meaningfull information on
the front panel which has traditionally been stuck on the CPU
speed.
Due to disk space requirements, FIM, MENU, FIELVIEW and PRTIMER
have been removed from the utilities
(Page 9 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 10
Registration Form
V.REGISTRATION FORM
First Name: .........................................
Surname: .........................................
Company: .........................................
Address: .........................................
.........................................
City/Postcode: .........................................
Country: .........................................
Phone: Bh: ..................... Ah:................
Floppy disk required: (please tick)
5 1/4" 1.2Mb disks [ ] or
3 1/2" 1.4Mb disks [ ]
Optional Printed documentation [ ]
Printed documentation add $AUS 25.00
Payment method: (please tick relevant option)
AMERICAN EXPRESS [ ]
BANKCARD [ ] Credit Card Number:
DINERS CLUB [ ]
EUROCARD [ ] .................................
MASTERCARD [ ]
VISA CARD [ ] Credit Card Expiry Date: .../...
Cheque [ ]
Money Order [ ] Amount AUS$ ....................
Overseas Transfer [ ] sFR ....................
Optional Upgrade Option:
(credit card number must be supplied for options 1 to 4)
1 Private User auto-upgrade, every release [ ]
2 Private User auto-upgrade, every 2nd. release [ ]
3 Private User auto-upgrade, every 3rd. release [ ]
4 Private User auto-upgrade, every ..... release [ ]
Please accept my/our registration for an upgrade to the full
registered version of all your utilities. I/we agree to your
disclaimer of all warranties and the restrictions on copying on all
cALMER utilities. Credit card details must be supplied for
optional automatic upgrade option.
SIGNED ............................... DATE ..........
Costs: Australia $60.00, Overseas $70.00 OS D-Xfer sFR85,00
Upgrades: Australia $20.00, Overseas $25.00
Printed documentation add $AUS 25.00
(Page 10 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 11
AUTOEDIT
VI. AUTOEDIT
A.Purpose
An easy interface to edit often-edited files. You may either use
the internal editor or the editor of your choice.
B.Associated files
AUTOEDIT.EXE the program.
AUTOEDIT.CAC Configuration file (hidden (all .cac files are
hidden))
AUTOEDIT.DAT Data File containing longhand description of files
and file path.
AUTOEDIT.HLP help file.
C.Syntax
There are no command line parameters, simply key in AUTOEDIT from
DOS which will show a menu of available files. Choose the file to
edit by moving the highlighted item with the cursor keys and then
pressing Return.
D.Structure of AUTOEDIT data file
The data file consist of a series of two-line statements. The
first line per set is the complete path of the file, the second the
description which will be shown on the menu. You can use AUTOEDIT
to edit the file.
There are two optional items you can add to the file path line:
'/r' and '/h'. '/r' will mark the file as read-only after editing,
'/h' will mark it hidden. Be aware that if you use these two
options you will not be able to edit any file with another editor
unless you used the cALMER Utilities STAMP.EXE program to reset the
file attributes to normal. A sample AUTOEDIT.DAT follows:
\AUTOEXEC.BAT ; /r /h
AUTOEXEC.BAT (System Automatic Startup File)
\CONFIG.SYS ; /r /h
CONFIG.SYS (System Configuration File)
\calmer\today.dat
Today Data File (for daily startup procedures)
\calmer\autoedit.dat
Data File for this program
As you can see, both AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS are flagged to be
read-only and hidden after editing. A safety feature so we can not
accidentally erase these two important files.
E.General comments
AUTOEDIT will automatically use the built-in editor if the external
editor can not be found.
(Page 11 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 12
AUTOEDIT
When using the built-in editor, you have access to extensive
context-sensitive help while editing AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS by
pressing <F1>. The help system gives you help on all editor
keyboard commands as well as help with DOS statements, such as
'prompt', 'shell' etc. Try it out.
F.Installation
The first time you run AUTOEDIT.EXE, the program will request the
name of your favorite editor. If you wish to use the internal
editor, simply press Enter, otherwise specify the name and
extension of your editor. Sample: 'QE.EXE'. If QE.EXE is in your
DOS path, AUTOEDIT will display the full path on the line, if it
can not find QE.EXE, AUTOEDIT will not allow you to continue.
Should you have forgotten where QE.EXE resides, simply clear the
entire line and press enter.
You can modify the editor name at any time by giving the command
'AUTOEDIT /install' from DOS.
(Page 12 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 13
BOOTPAST
VII. BOOTPAST
A.Purpose
Modifies floppy diskettes so that they will boot trough to the hard
disk. Unlike DOS bootable disks, there is no need for an operating
system to be on the diskette. You do need a hard disk to be able to
boot from BOOTPAST treated diskettes. Use this program on all
diskettes leaving you or your organisation and treat your diskettes
which you use in conjunction with the cALMER Utilities LAZYBACK
backup program. (No more annoying 'Non-System disk in drive A, hit
any key to continue' messages)
B.Associated files
BOOTPAST.EXE the program.
BOOTPAST.CAC Configuration file (hidden)
C.Installation
The registered version of BOOTPAST allows you to brand floppy
disks with up to ten different messages. (see general comments
below)
D.Syntax
BOOTPAST <Enter> will modify boot sector of disk in DRIVE A, then
return to DOS.
BOOTPAST /many <Enter> will modify boot sector of disk in DRIVE A,
then ask for a key press and modify the next disk in A.
BOOTPAST b <Enter> will modify boot sector of disk in DRIVE B, then
return to DOS.
BOOTPAST b /many <Enter> will modify boot sector of disk in DRIVE
B, then ask for a key press and modify the next disk in B.
BOOTPAST b /edit <Enter> (registered version only) will modify boot
sector of disk in DRIVE B after giving you a chance to change the
header message.
BOOTPAST /edit <Enter> (registered version only) or BOOTPAST a
/edit <Enter> (registered version only) will modify boot sector of
disk in DRIVE A after giving you a chance to change the header
message.
BOOTPAST B 5 <Enter> (registered version only) will modify boot
sector of disk in DRIVE B with message number 5.
(Page 13 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 14
BOOTPAST
E.General Comments
Setting your own messages on floppy boot sectors: Registered Users
Option: First time you run BOOTPAST, a screen-editor appears to
allow you to customise up to 10 messages, one of which will be
displayed when you boot from the treated disk. Whatever message
number you edit at the time you press <F2> to save will become the
default message. I.e., if you save when editing message number 8,
next time you run BOOTPAST without any parameters, message number 8
will be written to disk. To re-edit the message, key in "BOOTPAST
/edit" You can now test the message on the floppy without the need
to re-boot: Simply run BOOTPAST again, the message will be shown on
screen. You then have the choice to over-write the header or leave
as is. This only works with disks treated with BOOTPAST Version
2.00 or higher.
To treat a floppy in drive A with message number 5 you would give
the command 'BOOTPAST A 5 <Enter>' from DOS. If you forgot what
message has been allocated to what number, key in 'BOOTPAST /list
<Enter>' from DOS. If the floppy in drive A has already been
treated with BOOTPAST, a message will appear on your screen showing
the message, time and date of branding and ask for confirmation
that you really do want to overwrite the header.
F.Potential problems
If a BOOTPAST-treated floppy won't boot: You haven't done
anything wrong and there is nothing you can do to get the disks to
boot other than upgrading the BIOS of your PC. Generally speaking
though, if your computer is one of the problem computers, you'll
most likely find that there are other incompatibilities there and
it is probably not worth your while to spend money on out-of-date
technology. Upgrade the motherboard, not just the BIOS.
If you "accidentally" BOOTPAST a bootable systems disk, which
really means that you were not taking any notice of BOOTPASTs
warning message, you can restore the original boot sector with the
DOS "SYS A:" command.
(Page 14 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 15
CALMER.EXE
VIII. CALMER.EXE
A.Purpose
General purpose cALMER Utilities installation program
B.Associated files
CALMER.EXE the program.
CALMER.DAT data file
CALMER.CTL configuration file (hidden)
cALMER generates 3 sub directories:
\cALMER contains executables
\cALMER\docs contains documentation. You can use
FILEVIEW (see page 35) to read the documentation.
\cALMER\cal contains the packed files (assuming there
was enough disk space during installation.) You may
delete this directory if you wish.
C.Syntax
CALMER <Enter>
This will bring up a menu offering you different choices, depending
on your user-status.
If you are running CALMER.EXE from your hard disk without having
installed the cALMER Utilities beforehand, you will be asked to
specify a disk drive first. CALMER.EXE will attempt to adjust the
path to the drive you specify and the CALMER sub directory.
The menu choices are:
1. Update NBY Virus Signature File
Select this option if you have downloaded a packed virus
signature file from the cALMER Utilities Support BBS (see page
49) . The program will attempt to read the floppy in drive A,
if the relevant files is not found, it will ask you to enter
the drive and path where NBYUnnnn.zip resides. The 'nnnn'
refers to a date code. For example, NBYU932A means the first
update in February 1992.
2. Generate a formatted floppy disk for NBY
This option will take you through the process of formatting and
systemising a floppy disk which will be used by NBY as a rescue
disk. It is primarily intended for users who are not familiar
with DOS
3. Re-Install from packed files
Allows you to re-install parts or all of the cALMER Utilities
from the packed files as supplied.
4. Default setup of cALMER Utilities
(Page 15 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 16
CALMER.EXE
You can specify several options which will affect the running
of the cALMER Utilities. The are:
a)Force NBY to ignore hard disk
See NBY Documentation for details. (page 43)
b)Disable generation of Rescue Disk
See NBY Documentation for details (page 42)
c)Let NBY Process answers automatically
See NBY Documentation for details (page 42)
d)Auto-answer time for NBY
See NBY Documentation for details (page 42)
e)Suppress NBY ROM-LOCK test
See NBY Documentation for details (page 16)
f)Allow COMMAND.COM File-Date changes
See NBY Documentation for details (page 43)
g)Suppress SIPLUS ROM testing
See SIPLUS Documentation for details on page 52
h)Suppress SIPLUS CPU testing
See SIPLUS Documentation for details on page 52.
i)Force existence of AT computer
See NBY Documentation for details (page 16)
j)Exploding Windows
Some users like windows to explode when they are drawn.
Naturally, this slows down the system.
k)Whistling Windows
Some users like whistling windows when they are drawn.
Not recommended for an office environment.
l)Allow program interruptions by user
Several corporate users requested the ability to not
allow their users to interrupt programs while they are
running. Programs affected are NBY, FASTNBY and
LAZYBACK. If you say 'N'o here, you will not be able to
interrupt the scanning operation of those programs.
m)Keep a log file of activities
Mainly for systems administrators. Saying yes here will
update a file called 'CALMER.LOG' with information on the
last operation of relevant programs. They include NBY,
FASTNBY and LAZYBACK.
n)Outdated virus signature file
See NBY Documentation for details (page 44)
o)Using SuperStor compression utility
See NBY Documentation for details on page 44.
p)Register the cALMER Utilities
(Page 16 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 17
CALMER.EXE
This section allows you to register the cALMER Utilities
which will stop the remainder messages and suppress all
restrictions within the programs.
Contact cALMER Utilities (see page 59) for your
registration details.
q)Generate Distribution disk
This option appears for corporate users only. Please
contact cALMER Utilities for details if you have
problems running this section.
5. Change cALMER Utilities colours
You can change the default colours for all cALMER Utilities
from this menu. Note the there are two hidden items, 'Standard
colour' and 'Standard Mono' which you can access by moving the
cursor up from the top of the choices menu.
D.General comments
Any changes you make to the configuration will only take effect if
you press <F10> to exit. Pressing <Esc> will restore the original
contents.
E.Potential problems
When re-installing the utilities from packed files off a floppy,
the program will check the floppy and ensure that it is an original
(or disk copy of an original) cALMER Utilities disk. This is to
avoid the potentially disastrous effect of users installing a
program from files which have coincidentally been given the same
name as the cALMER Utilities file names.
(Page 17 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 18
CALENDAR
IX. CALENDAR
A.Purpose
A universal calendar program displaying calendar months dating from
1st. January 1583 through to 31st. December 2999. Unlike Microsoft
DOS or a lot of other calendar programs, it correctly interprets
leap years. (MS DOS 6 still lets you happily enter an invalid date
such as 29th. Febuary 2000, but then again, they still use third
party software to unerase a file which has been deleted under their
own operating environment.... Maybe by the year the time this
calendar program runs out of scope, hey ?)
B.Associated files
CALCULATOR.EXE the program.
HOLIDAY.SYS, systems information for customised holidays.
C.Syntax
Calendar [/Parameter]<Return> shows the current month.
The following commands are valid within the Calendar program:
<right arrow> next month
<left arrow> previous month
<up arrow> next year
<down arrow> previous year
<F1> short help screen
<ESC> return to DOS
<T> return to Today
<D> enter any given date between 1st. January 1583 and
31st. December 2999
<Z> Zoom into (or out of) full year display.
<SPACE> Show details of (highlighted) holidays.
When adding or editing your own holidays (see Potential problems below),
the data entry screen allows you to define the following items:
Day: The day of the month
Month: The month of the year
Description: A description which will be displayed when you press
the SPACE bar. The description may contain a variable field identifier
(the percent [%] sign) which relates to the originating year (called
Start Year).
Start Year: The year specifing the start of the calculation to be
displayed above.
Move to Monday: In some countries holidays are carried over to the
next Monday if the holiday happens to falls onto a Saturday or Sunday.
If this is the case with the holiday you specify, say Yes to this field.
(Page 18 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 19
CALENDAR
Sample holiday definition:
ANZAC Day:
Day 25
Month 4
Description ANZAC Day
Start Year 0
Move to Monday Y
or, Swiss National Day, showing age of the country:
Day 1
Month 8
Description Swiss National Day (%)
Start Year 1291
Move to Monday N
or, a wedding anniversary reminder:
Day 23
Month 11
Description % years of bliss
Start Year 1986
Move to Monday N
D.General comments
The calendar program shows the Easter period for every year as well
as Christmas. Those days (as well as any other holidays you
nominate) are highlighted in inverse colour. For those of you who
can not figure out what the flashing number means, it indicates the
current day as it is set in the operating system. (For XT users,
this will generally be the Tuesday, 1st. January 1980)
E.Potential problems
If you are an unregistered user you will not know how to add your
own holidays or how to edit existing ones. The required commanline
parameter is provided once you register.
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 20
CAPSON
X.CAPSON
A.Purpose
Switch the caps lock on
B.Associated files
CAPSON.COM turn caps on
CAPSOFF.COM turn caps off
NUMON.COM turn numlock on
NUMOFF.COM turn numlock off
SCROLON.COM turn scroll lock on
SCROLOFF.COM turn scroll lock off
C.Installation
No special installation requirement
D.Syntax
CAPSON <Enter> etc.
E.General Comments
Designed to be used in batch files.
F.Potential problems
none.
(Page 20 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 21
CCD
XI. CCD
A.Purpose
Find executable files or directories and jump to target area. CCD
is a combination of file-find and change directory program. Use
CCD instead of the DOS CD (Change Directory) command. Unlike other
directory change programs, CCD will change to a directory even if
you don't know the name of the directory, as long as you know the
name of the executable file you are looking for. CCD works across
any drive, but, you must have run FAST-NBY against the drives you
want CCD to recognise.
B.Associated files
CCD.EXE the program.
CCD.CAC Configuration file (hidden)
FASTNBY.NEW data file, generated by FASTNBY.EXE
C.Syntax
CCD directory [/switches]
CCD \cALMER will change into the \cALMER directory.
(same as DOS CD or CHDIR command)
CCD .. move one level up
(same as DOS CD or CHDIR command)
CCD DOC: find the first sub directory which contains the word DOC
in it. (The ":" informs CCD that you want to match directory names
only.
CCD DOC If a sub-directory called DOC exists in the currently
logged drive, CCD will enter that sub directory. (same as DOS CD or
CHDIR command) If no sub-directory exists, CCD will find the first
sub directory which contains either the word "DOC" in the sub
directory or contains an executable file starting with DOC. This
could be DOCedit.exe or DOCument.exe or C:\cALMER\DOCS or C:\DOCS.
CCD TEST find the first sub directory which contains TEST
CCD TEST. (Note the full stop.) This finds the first sub directory
containing either TEST.EXE, TEST.COM or TEST.BAT etc.
CCD /P jump back to Previous directory.
CCD CHESS /E jump to chess directory and push "CHESS <Enter>" onto
the keyboard, i.e. automatically execute the program.
D.General comments
By repeating the same command, CCD will step through every
directory matching the specifications until it has found the last
one. After that, it will start from top again, strictly
alphabetically.
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 22
CCD
Let us assume that you, like the author, have several 'util'
directories, such as 'c:\util', 'c:\ccp\utils\' etc. Further
assume that you want to generally access 'c:\util' when keying in
'CCD util'. Naturally, CCD will jump to 'c:\ccp\utils' first since
the data file is sorted in alphabetical order. To overcome this,
edit the file FASTNBY.NEW, after having marked it as a normal file
(use the cALMER Utilities STAMP.EXE to do that). Search for
'c:\util' and move that line in front of the 'c:\ccp\utils' line.
Of course you can do this with any item you like in the data file.
Note that you can add FASTNBY.NEW to your AUTOEDIT.DAT file.
AUTOEDIT will automatically take care of the file attributes for
you.
E.Potential problems
Since CCD maintains (and thus saves) information after every run,
you may find that CCD is slower than expected on old machines with
slow disk drives. If you copy CCD.EXE onto a RAM Drive, you will
increase the speed dramatically. However, before you do that, you
must run CCD at least once from the directory which contains FAST -
NBY. After the initial run, you can copy CCD to anywhere you like.
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 23
CURSOR
XII. CURSOR
A.Purpose
Display a large cursor
B.Associated files
CURSOR.COM the program.
C.Installation
No special installation requirement
D.Syntax
CURSOR <Enter>
E.General Comments
Designed to be used on Laptop computers where the cursor is hard to
see.
F.Potential problems
TCT (see page 54) will overwrite the cursor value to TCTs pre-
definition.
(Page 23 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 24
DATETIME
XIII. DATETIME
A.Purpose
Automatically set two environment variables to reflect todays date
and the current time. These two variables can then be used in
batch files to display the settings, to log activities or, as
several users requested, to generate individual files guaranteed to
be unique file names.
B.Associated files
DATETIME.EXE the program
C.Installation
No Installation Requirement
D.Syntax
DATETIME<Enter> sets the 'DATE' and 'TIME' environment variable in the
format depending on your country information setting.
DATETIME dateformat timeformat<Enter> sets the environment variables
according to the format you specify:
The Date Format can be a combination of months, day and year plus
seperators: Assuming todays date is May 18, 1993
mm/dd/yy = 05/18/93
MM/dd/yy = 5/18/93
ddmmyy = 180593
ddmmyyyy = 18051993
DDMMYY = 18 593
yyxmmxdd = 93x05x18
The Time Format, assuming it is now 11:12:30 am:
hh/mm/ss = 11/12/30
hh:mm:ss = 11:12:30
hh:mm:ss te = 11:12:30 am
hh:mmt = 11:12a
hhmmss = 111230
Any formating string in UPPER case will change leading zeros to spaces.
E.General comments
The program only retrieves the current system date and time. In other
words, if you have an old XT with a time-card in it, DATETIME will NOT
read that card, it is not a replacement for the initialisation programs
which come with those cards.
A very simple application logging all machine resets using DATETIME is
shown below. Simply add the two lines into your AUTOEXEC.BAT and
inspect the file 'reset.inf' if you want to know when the PC was reset
last....
DATETIME
echo %date% %time% >>reset.inf
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 25
DATETIME
F.Potential problems
If you are a 4DOS users: You must invoke 4DOS with the /M switch in
order for 4DOS to provide the environment information to DATETIME
and other programs requiring the Master Environment. Failure to
do so will result in an "MASTER ENVIRONMENT NOT FOUND" error.
PCMOS users: The master environment can not be found by DATETIME,
thus DATETIME does NOT work under PCMOS.
(Page 25 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 26
DELBACK
XIV. DELBACK
A.Purpose
Automatically remove backup files and zero-length files on your
hard disks. You can specify what constitutes a backup file, which
directories or files to keep, how old the backup files are before
they are deleted as well as which specific files in specific
directories are to be deleted.
B.Associated files
DELBACK.EXE the program
DELBACK.DAT the data file
C.Installation
Installation of DELBACK comprises modifying the DELBACK.DAT data
file to your requirements.
If DELBACK.DAT is missing, DELBACK will default to the following
setup:
Age limit: nil (delete files no matter how old they are)
Files to delete: *.BAK, *.TMP, *.$$$, *.BK! and zero-length files.
Hard disks: all hard disks.
Directories: all directories and sub-directories.
D.Structure of DELBACK data file
The data file consist of two lines, all subsequent lines are
ignored. You can use AUTOEDIT (see page 10) to edit the file.
A sample FASTNBY.DAT follows:
F A S T - NBY data file specifying additional extensions for
scanning
.INI.WRI.XTP.PIF.LIB.OVR.OVL.DRV
This tells FASTNBY to also check files with .INI, .WRI, .XTP etc.
extension additionally to the standard .COM, .EXE, .SYS.
DELBACK.DAT, as supplied:
(Page 26 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 27
DELBACK
DELBACK Version 1.07 Copyright (C) 1991 cALMER
Utilities
Line 3 = extensions to auto-delete, rest of file = exceptions
.BAK.TMP.$$$.ERR
;
keep=c:\mail,0
keep=f:\ ;Ignore entire drive F
keep=c:\develop\source\keep-me.bak ; never delete that file !
Daysold=0 ;we do not want to keep old files from the
; DOS shell, they are of no use at all !
delete="c:\dos\*. " ;get rid of files left behind by DOS Shell
4.01
Daysold=5 ;keep these files for a couple of days in case
; we need them
delete=c:\file*.chk ;created by DOS CHKDSK
delete=d:\file*.chk ;get rid of it on drive D as well
;
Daysold=14 ; now, keep ALL files less than 14 days
old !
;%We are keeping backup-files less than 14 days old !
DELBACK Data file commands:
keep=c:\mail
ignores ALL files in any directory starting with c:\mail.
i.e. c:\mailin, c:\mailout, c:\mailwork, c:\mailin\filein
keep=c:\mailin
ignores ALL files in any directory starting with
c:\mailin
keep=c:\mail,$$$,0
removes say .BAK files but keeps .$$$ and zero-length
files in any directory starting with c:\mail.
Daysold=nn
Specify how old files have to be in (nn) days before they
are being deleted. Zero-length files are always being
deleted, irrespective of the DaysOld directive, unless
they are saved via a 'keep=' command. If Daysold= is not
present, no time checking is done. Daysold= can be mixed,
as shown in the data file. Use it in conjunction with the
delete= directive. The very last DaysOld command affects
the files specified on line 3.
delete=c:\file*.chk
This allows you to specify a set of files to delete in a
single location. I.e. you may have .CHK files in some sub
directories for whatever purpose. If you added .CHK to
Line 3 of the data file, those files would be deleted
also. The delete= command allows you to 'point and shoot'
which is a lot faster than the normal scanning of the hard
disk. If you want delete files with spaces as extensions,
the filename must be specified within quotation marks.
e.g.: delete="c:\dos\*. "
See the data file supplied for further details.
E.Syntax
DELBACK <Enter> invokes a test-run and shows you what would be
deleted.
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 28
DELBACK
DELBACK /DoIt <Enter> performs the actual deletion. Note that
'/DoIt' is case-sensitive.
DELBACK CDEF /Doit will delete files from drive C,D,E and F only,
thus eliminating DELBACKs scanning for hard disks. This is
perticularly useful if you have 10 or 15 CD ROM drives on your
system.
F.General comments
Since DELBACK could delete files you wanted to keep, i.e. the data
file has errors in it, you must specify the /DoIt command to force
it to act. This is a simple safety measure. The best way to run
DELBACK is via the TODAY (see page 57) program.
DELBACK will not delete files of the following extensions, even if
you ask it to do so: .BAT .COM .EXE .SYS .OVL .DBF .DAT .INI .ZIP
.ARJ .LZH .ZOO .PAK
G.Potential problems
To avoid the accidental deletion of files which are important to
you, you may protect those files using STAMP (see page 53) and
marking them as read-only. DELBACK will NOT remove read-only
files. Some programs require zero-length files, so make sure you
specify those with the 'keep' command. None of the cALMER
Utilities programs require zero-length files, although some
generate them and Stamp can be used to specifically generate them.
(see page 53).
(Page 28 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 29
DISKFREE
XV. DISKFREE
A.Purpose
Give both a visual and audible indication of disk space
usage.
B.Associated files
DISKFREE.EXE the program.
DISKFREE.CAC the configuration file
C.Installation
Registered users only: <Enter>
DISKFREE DRIVES RATE /INSTALL <Enter>
Where DRIVES is CDEF etc. to cover all your drives and
rate is a percentage figure after which DISKFREE starts
to beep.
e.g.:. 'DISKFREE CDE 80 /install' will install drives C,D
and E. On subsequent runs, when any drive is over 80%
full, DISKFREE will sound the alarm.
DISKFREE for non-registered users will simply return the
currently logged drive statistics.
D.Syntax
DISKFREE <Enter>
E.General Comments
Add DISKFREE to the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT
F.Potential problems
It can be very annoying if you reach the threshold at
2:00am and DISKFREE starts beeping at you. When that
happens, it is time to start KILLDIR. (see page 37)
(Page 29 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 30
DL
XVI. DL
A.Purpose
To show directory information with a lot of options.
B.Associated files
DL.EXE the program.
C.Syntax
DL [directory] [/switches]
where switches are:
/?abc show all files with "abc" in their name.
/a Unarchived files
/d Directories only
/d+ search sub directories
/d- No Directories
/g Graphic representation of file size
/h Hidden files
/l list format show file names only
/lp list format including path
/oe sort by Extension ascending
/oe- sort by Extension descending
/on sort by Name ascending
/on- sort by Name descending
/os sort by Size ascending
/os- sort by Size descending
/ot sort by Date ascending
/ot- sort by Date descending
/p Pause at end of page
/r Read/Only files
/s Systems Files
/ta"text" Appends text specified in quotes after the file name
/tb"text" Precedes file name with text specified in quotes
/w Wide display
/wx Wide with status
/x Extended info
/xd eXtended Directory info
/z Show all files
D.General comments
Use /TB and /TA to automaticall generate batch files as follows:
dl /?tmp /tb"Del " >deltmp.bat
generates a batch file which will delete all files containing
'tmp' . Note that the text "Del " has a space in it !.
dl /?dat /tb "copy " /ta" d:\safety" >safety.bat
generates a batch file to copy all files containing 'dat' to a
safety directory.
(Page 30 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 31
DL
Dl allows you to scroll back in the display. It uses the Shift and
control keys to manage the display:
LEFT SHIFT Pause the listing. Press it again to continue.
RIGHT SHIFT Terminates listing and returns to DOS.
LEFT CTRL Pause while key pressed
RIGHT CTRL Reverse scroll direction
E.Potential problems
When giving the command 'DL /XD' from the root directory, DL will
read all files on your system and add up the total which may take a
fair while, depending on the size of your hard disk.
(Page 31 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 32
EE
XVII. EE
A.Purpose
An easy way to change environment variables, as set by the DOS SET
command.
B.Associated files
EE.EXE the program
EE.HLP a help file
C.Installation
No special installation requirements.
D.Syntax
EE <Enter> enters full screen environment editor. See AUTOEDIT for
details of editor operations. (page 10)
When in the editor, you may press <Alt-A> to update the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file to reflect any changes you made to the
environment. The original AUTOEXEC.BAT is copied to a file called
autoexec.ee
E.General comments
EE only edits the Master Environment. Therefore, if you run EE
from other programs, like DOS SHELL, you will not be able to detect
any changes to the environment until you return to DOS.
F.Potential problems
If you are a 4DOS users: You must invoke 4DOS with the /M switch in
order for 4DOS to provide the environment information to EE and
other programs requiring the Master Environment. Failure to do so
will result in an "MASTER ENVIRONMENT NOT FOUND" error.
PCMOS users: The master environment can not be found by EE, thus EE
does NOT work under PCMOS.
(Page 32 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 33
FASTNBY
XVIII. FASTNBY
A.Purpose
Find any files on your system which have been altered since the
last run. Generate a data file for CCD.
B.Associated files
FASTNBY .ADD contains list of new files on your system
FASTNBY .CAC configuration file
FASTNBY .DAT data file specifying additional files
FASTNBY .DEL contains list of files deleted from your system
FASTNBY .EXC contains list of exception files
FASTNBY .EXE program file
FASTNBY .NEW the latest file list, used by CCD
FASTNBY .OLD the status of the previous run
FASTNBY .VIR contains list of files which have been modified
C.Installation
FASTNBY is self-installing. During the initial run, FASTNBY scans
your system and automatically adds all your hard disks to its
internal list. The number of hard disks are determined by
interrogating DOS. Some non-standard systems report this
incorrectly and FASTNBY will only find one or two. In this
instance, you must do a manual installation as follows:
FASTNBY Drives /install where 'Drives' is/are the drive name(s)
(without the colon). I.e.: FASTNBY CDEF /install.
D.Structure of FASTNBY data file
The data file consist of two lines, all subsequent lines are
ignored. You can use AUTOEDIT (see page 10) to edit this file.
A sample FASTNBY.DAT follows:
F A S T - NBY data file specifying additional extensions for
scanning
.INI.WRI.XTP.PIF.LIB.OVR.OVL.DRV
This tells FASTNBY to also check files with .INI, .WRI, .XTP etc.
extension additionally to the standard .COM, .EXE, .SYS.
E.Syntax
FASTNBY <Enter> Normal run.
FASTNBY /silent <Enter> Normal run, no report windows at end of
report.
FASTNBY /review <Enter> Re-display the reports from the previous
run. Pressing <F2> In the 'modifications' window shows an 'E' for
exceptions. This can be used to mark files which constantly change
in order to avoid them being reported every time you run FASTNBY.
A typical situation where this is warranted is in a developer
environment where you are constantly recompiling (and thus
changing) a program.
FASTNBY CDE /install <Enter> Install drives CDE
(Page 33 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 34
FASTNBY
F.General comments
FASTNBY scans all your disks for all executables and any other file
extension you specify and reports any possible changes at the end
of its run. Depending on what FASTNBY found, it will open 1, 2 or
three windows with headings 'Additions', 'Changes' or 'Deletions'.
You can navigate within the individual windows with the cursor
keys. To jump from one window to the next, use Shift-Left or
Shift-Right.
G.Potential problems
Although FASTNBY has internal virus protection, it is possible that
a stealth-virus, active on your system, could attack any program
that FASTNBY checks. However, the same could be true if you gave
a DIR command under those conditions, or a CHKDSK command. To
date, we have had no reports of this event taking place. As a
precaution though, you should always run NBY before you run
FASTNBY.
FASTNBY does an automatic installation on the first run. In some
non-standard systems, it will not be able to find all your hard
disks in which case you must install it manually. (see above).
(Page 34 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 35
FORMAT
XIX. FORMAT
A.Purpose
Format floppy data diskettes. The format program is a
combination of format and BOOTPAST.
B.Associated files
FORMAT.EXE the program.
FORMAT.DAT data file
C.Syntax
Format <Enter> enters formats menu screen, defaulting to drive A
and whatever drive A's default size is.
Format B 720<Enter> enters formats menu screen, defaulting to drive
B and 720K size.
D.General Comments
The formatting program only allows formatting of floppy diskettes in
Drive A or Drive B. It does NOT have an option to format system
diskettes. Any diskettes formatted are automatically treated with
BOOTPAST (see page 13) and have a volume set, (unless you clear the
volume entry on the data screen). You can specify your own boot sector
message.
If there are any files on the floppy diskette about to be formatted, the
program will show you the contents of the root directory, giving you a
chance to abandon the format.
The program has full SHOWPOST support, indicating a percentage complete
during progress and then reverting to the diskette size once formatting
is complete.
E.Potential problems
Format has exactly the same name as the DOS format. It is
recommended that you rename the DOS format. This will avoid the
possibility of accidentally formatting hard disks. (We have
renamed the DOS format.com to !format!.com)
(Page 35 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 36
FORMFEED
XX. FORMFEED
A.Purpose
Send a form feed to the printer saving you the trouble of
having to walk 600 miles per day to and fro...
B.Associated files
FORMFEED.COM the program.
C.Installation
From DOS key in FORMFEED <Enter>
D.Syntax
Once FORMFEED is loaded, from anywhere press <CTRL-Alt-
F> . This will send a FORMFEED to printer 1.
E.General Comments
FORMFEED only sends a FORMFEED to printer LPT1:
F.Potential problems
If you run FORMFEED from anywhere other than the DOS
command line or AUTOEXEC.BAT, you will crash your system.
This is because FORMFEED is a TSR.
(Page 36 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 37
KILLDIR
XXI. KILLDIR
A.Purpose
Easily and quickly remove an entire directory including
sub directories and files and cut down on disk space
usage.
B.Associated files
KILLDIR.EXE the program.
C.Installation
No special installation requirements.
D.Syntax
KILLDIR <Enter> will ask for confirmation and, if you
confirm, delete all files in and below the current
directory. This includes files marked as read-only,
system files or hidden files. The directory itself will
be deleted.
KILLDIR /Branch <Enter> Leave current directory alone
but act on all sub-directories.
KILLDIR /F: <Enter> leave directories untouched but
delete all files. Optionally, you may specify filenames:
KILLDIR /F:*.COM <Enter> will only erase all COM
files in sub-directories. (/F: defaults to *.*)
KILLDIR /Test <Enter> Do not delete any sub
directories or files but show what would have been
deleted.
E.General Comments
You must be logged onto the directory you want to kill, you can not
run KILLDIR from the root directory. Just for safety (see
potential problems below.)
You can interrupt the process by hitting any key as the deletions
appear.
The registered version shows you which files are being deleted.
F.Potential problems
Q: Are you sure you want to delete this directory ?
A: Yes, of course !
Q: Are you absolutely sure ?
A: Go ahead, I'm sure.
Q: Your last chance to stop this process !
A: Get on with it!
.
'All files deleted'
DAMN !
(Page 37 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 38
LAZYBACK
XXII. LAZYBACK
A.Purpose
A hands-free backup program to automatically backup
important files.
B.Associated files
LAZYBACK.EXE the program.
LAZYBACK.CAC the configuration file
LAZYBACK.DAT the data file
LAZYBACK.ZIP the backup file (assuming you use PKZIP)
C.Installation
Installation is done by modifying LAZYBACK.DAT. You can use
AUTOEDIT (see page 10) for that purpose.
To specify the packing command, enter /LAZYBACK /INSTALL <Enter>
D.Structure of LAZYBACK data file
The data file is a pure text file consisting of single line
instructions:
~d:\*.bak
Do NOT backup '.BAK' files from drive D in all sub
directories ('~' = exception command)
cd:\winword\docs\*.doc +PAK+
Compress all *.doc files in the Word directory. The First
'C' stands for the destination directory. In this case,
since the files are being packed, the destination is the
.zip file in c:\cALMER.
cc:\customer\*.dbf +PAKALONE+
Compress all .DBF files and compress them individually to
avoid memory problems in the packing program.
ac:\develop\c\*.c
Copy all .c files from specified directory onto floppy
disk, no packing.
ac:\cALMER\LAZYBACK.ZIP
Copy the zip file which was created to the floppy disk.
E.Syntax
LAZYBACK <Enter> backup files which need it.
LAZYBACK /DoIt <Enter> force a backup of all specified
files.
LAZYBACK /Mark <Enter> Mark all files as backed up.
F.General Comments
Use LAZYBACK in your AUTOEXEC.BAT in conjunction with floppy disks
treated with BOOTPAST. (see page 13) When a BOOTPAST treated disk
is in drive A, the system will boot to the hard disk, your backing
up will be done to the floppy and be complete by the time you had
your first cup of coffee in the morning.
(Page 38 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 39
LAZYBACK
The registered version (see page 59) reads local LAZYBACK.DAT files
and generate .zip files if a +PAK+ command has been included in the
local directory. In local mode, there is no need to include the
full path of the files to be backed up or excluded. LAZYBACK
always checks for a LAZYBACK.DAT file in the current directory
first and uses that if found, otherwise it will use the
LAZYBACK.DAT file in the home directory. The home directory is the
directory where LAZYBACK.EXE is called from.
G.Potential problems
Do not attempt to backup your entire hard disk using
LAZYBACK. It is not designed to do that. Use it to
backup important data and still perform you regular
backups.
(Page 39 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 40
MOVE
XXIII. MOVE
A.Purpose
Move files to other directories or disks
B.Associated files
MOVE.COM the program.
C.Installation
No installation requirements
D.Syntax
MOVE FileSpec Destination /Switch.
Where FileSpec is any valid DOS file specification,
Destination is a destination directory or destination
directory\FileSpec and
Switch is either:
/D delete existing file in destination
/F follow the move into the destination directory.
MOVE <Enter> for help screen.
E.General Comments
MOVE is a Public Domain program by Craig Derouen with modifications
added by cALMER Utilities. Unlike DOS 6 move, the cALMER
Utilities program warns you if the file you are trying to move
already exists in the destination area. However, the cALMER
Utilities MOVE does not allow you to rename directories, use the
DOS 6 move for that.
F.Potential problems
Since both DOS 6 and cALMER Utilities MOVE are called the same, it
is suggested that you rename one or the other to say 'moove' so you
that you know exactly which one you are using.
(Page 40 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 41
NBY
XXIV. NBY
A.Purpose
To detect known viruses and Trojan horses.
B.Associated files
NBY.EXE the program.
NBY.CRC the data file (see page 46) The format of the data file is
a straight-forward ASCII file containing the full path and FileName
of files you want checked on a daily basis. A sample file is
supplied, edit it via AUTOEDIT (see page 10).
NBY.SIG the virus signature file. This is a file containing the
virus signature information. It must not be edited. (hidden, read-
only, system)
NBY.CAC configuration file (hidden, read-only, system)
NBY.MSG a user-generated message file (see page 46)
NBY.SY1 System File 1 (hidden, read-only, system)
NBY.SY2 System File 2 (hidden, read-only, system)
NBY.DAT System File 3 (hidden, read-only, system)
NBY.UPD Upgrade to Signature File. This file gets installed when
you upgrade the virus signature file (see page 15) and disappears
once you re-run NBY.
Remember that all file names will start with whatever name you
decided on.
C.Syntax
Note: all command are only available after successful initial
installation.
To check a floppy disk, including all files on it: "NBY A:\ "
To check a floppy disk, executables only "NBY A:\*.EXE A:\*.COM"
To check a floppy disk, boot sector only: "NBY A:\ /B" . Use this
option when you know that you have a boot sector virus infestation
after having cleared your boot sector virus.
To check the system files and system area only: "NBY"
To check all files contained in the NBY.CRC file: "NBY /DoIt".
Note that 'DoIt' is case sensitive.
To check all executables on drive c: "NBY C:\*.EXE C:\*.COM"
To check for the existence of a known file-attacking virus on drive
C: NBY /? C:\". This will bring up a menu of executable infecting
viruses. Select the one you want by moving the highlight with the
cursor keys and press enter. NBY will be in turbo-mode.
To scan all files which have changed or have been added, as
reported by FASTNBY "NBY /FAST" (see page 33)
D.Installing NBY
1. General information
(Page 41 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 42
NBY
NBY can not be run from DOS under the name of NBY. (This is a
hangover from the early days, intended as a protection so
malicious users can not simply go and remove NBY. Although it
is somewhat outdated, we have met considerable resistance from
our beta-test sites to the suggestion that we remove this
feature). It must be renamed beforehand. If you have installed
NBY from the cALMER Utilities installation program, you will
have been prompted for the new name. Use that name instead of
NBY. For documentation purposes however, we refer to it as
NBY. If you have not installed NBY via the installation
program, for example if you downloaded it from a BBS, key in
from DOS:
Copy NBY.* MYNAME.* where MYNAME is any valid DOS FileName.
Installation of NBY is done automatically when you run it for
the first time. Simply key in NBY <Enter> from drive C:.
Remember that NBY MUST be substituted by the name you gave it.
The operation differs between registered and non-registered
users:
As a registered user, NBY will ask you to insert a blank
formatted disk in drive A when you run it for the first time.
See page 15 how to easily format a floppy disk if you are
unsure on how to go about it. You can bypass this step by
disabling the generation of the rescue disk (See page 16). NBY
will not proceed until you have a floppy disk ready, or you
disable the generation of the rescue disk.
DR DOS 6 users: If you have upgraded from DOS to DR DOS, you
will most likely find that NBY reports a 'non-bootable hard
disk'. If this is the case, key in from DOS: "Set OS= <Enter>
". This will remove the DR DOS environment and is only required
the first time you run it. After that, simply run NBY again.
NBY will read all systems data, check it for viruses and
process it. For registered users, it will copy all relevant
information onto the floppy rescue diskette and then scan that
floppy diskette.
2. Automatic Answers
As mentioned elsewhere, NBY is a slow, slow scanner. If you
intend to scan your entire hard disk, it will most likely take
several hours and this process is best instigated before
leaving your PC overnight. This of course means that when NBY
asks a question, there will be no one there to answer it. If
you tell NBY to answer the questions automatically, it will
respond with the safest answer automatically. You can specify
a time limit. The time range should be set outside your normal
office hours, i.e., only when you are not in attendance. See
page 42 on how to change the default setup.
3. NBY Rescue Disk
(Page 42 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 43
NBY
As a registered user, NBY will take a complete image of your
PCs system areas and copy them onto a floppy disk, including
all the relevant information it requires itself. This disk
should be stored in a safe place, should be write-protected and
should be clearly marked with the date, PC identification and
DOS version. This disk must not be used on any computer other
than the one it was generated on and must be updated every time
you make any major changes to your system. These changes
include adding memory, adding or changing your hard disk,
reformatting your hard disk etc.
The rescue disk can only be generated on drive A since this is
the only drive you will be able to boot off when you need the
rescue disk. If you have an old model AT, it is possible that
it will not recognise high density disks in case of
catastrophic systems failure, therefore you should use low a
density diskette. (360K or 720K). Newer machines should use
high density diskettes as there is more room for storage. It
is a good idea to also copy your favorite systems programs onto
the rescue disk, such as 'debug.com', 'nu.exe' etc. before you
put it away.
There is no need to re-generate the rescue disk every time you
upgrade NBY or NBYs virus signature file. Thus, when you
install an upgrade to the cALMER Utilities, you should disable
the rescue disk generation (See Page 16) by entering a 'Y' to
'disable rescue disk'. Naturally, if you do want to re-
generate a rescue disk, you must change the entry in the setup
back to a 'N'.
However, if for some reason you wish to re-generate a rescue
disk, simply key in 'NBY /install' from the DOS prompt,
naturally, NBY being exchanged for the name you gave it.
4. Force NBY to ignore hard disk
Some systems are totally non-standard and do not report any
hard disks, although you have some. If your system is of this
type, NBY will inform you that no hard disk is present. In
this case, you would have to change the default setup (see page
16) and say 'Y' to force NBY to ignore hard disk. (Very few
machines require this switch nowadays)
5. Suppress NBY ROM-LOCK
Since NBY keeps data about your PC internally, it checks the
ROM it is running on. This is to ensure that users do not
accidentally carry an installed version of NBY from one PC to
the next, only to find that NBY would complain about everything
it found on the new PC. It will simply report a 'ROM Mismatch
error' on the new machine.
Alas, as is always the case, there are some PCs where the test
reports a fault under any condition. Therefore, you can
suppress that test by changing the default. (See page 16)
6. Allow COMMAND.COM File-Date changes
(Page 43 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 44
NBY
Some programs, like 'not-so-intelligent backup' programs, have
the annoying habit of changing system file time and date stamps
for their own mysterious reasons. Naturally, NBY will report
such changes, and keep on reporting it after every run of the
offending program. If you have such a program, tell NBY to
allow the changes, but, be aware that NBY will not report a
change if the change has been done by other than the offending
program. (We are only aware of one so-called backup program
doing this). See page 16 on how to change the default setup.
7. Force existence of AT computer
Some low-quality PC ATs will not report that they have an AT
architecture and NBY will thus not work as it should. Since
you probably can not afford to throw the machine away yet, tell
NBY and SIPLUS that it really is an AT via the default setup
option (see page 16)
8. Allow NBY interruptions by user
Several corporate users requested the ability to not allow
their users to interrupt NBY while it is running. This is the
only reason this switch exists. Change it via the default setup
option (see page 16)
9. Using SuperStor compression utility
Some users will sooner or later toy with the idea that their
hard disk is not large enough. At that stage they will be
purchasing some disk-compression programs. If you have been
down that road and have purchased SuperStor, you will have to
tell NBY that you are using SuperStor, otherwise you will find
masses of complaints by NBY. Amongst others, NBY will think
that your system files are on a RAM drive. Since not even
SuperStor can determine safely which hard disk is a SuperStor
disk (it reports 5 of my 8 non-SuperStor disks as SuperStor
partitions), NBY can not determine it either. So, you must
tell NBY manually via the default setup system. (see page 16)
A far better alternative to SuperStor is to upgrade to MS DOS 6
which has its own disk compression utility called "dblspace"
10. Outdated Signature File
Once the virus signature file is older than three months, NBY
will remind you that you should upgrade the signature file. If
you do not wish to have this message pop up, you can suppress
it via the cALMER Utilities installation program. (see page 16)
E.General comments
NBY stands for 'Not Born Yesterday'. It is a general purpose virus
scanner providing registered users with a rescue disk. It uses an
external virus signature file to allow easy upgrade. The latest
signature files is always available from the support BBS (see page
49) and can be installed via the installation program (see page
15).
NBY differs from other virus scanners in several forms:
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 45
NBY
It is a great deal slower than normal scanners. This is due to the
fact that it scans the entire file rather than just the startup
code of programs. (FASTNBY should be used for fast scanning).
It will automatically scan a set of files specified by the user the
first time it is being run on any given day. (See NBY.CRC page 46)
It will automatically eliminate any boot sector virus found on
floppies, assuming that the floppy disk is not write-protected, and
overwrite it with a bootable boot sector (see page 13) similar to a
BOOTPAST modified boot sector.
The registered version will automatically restore your master boot
record on your hard disk, irrespective of what type of boot sector
virus infected your system. This of course will only work if you
have not disabled the generation of a rescue disk. (see page 16)
As NBY is a slow scanner, it switches to turbo mode as soon as it
finds a file-infecting virus and scans for that virus only. It is
assumed that if a virus infected one file, it will have infected
others too.
NBY, being an Australian product, will always be able to recognise
local viruses before overseas products. Generally speaking, if you
have become infected by a new virus, you can upload infected files
to the support BBS and within a short time download an upgrade to
the virus signature file, thus ensuring that the spread of the new
virus can be managed.
F.Potential problems
Like any virus scanner, there are a few problems you ought to be
aware of:
First and foremost, NBY will only recognise viruses we know about
as it searches for known viruses. Therefore, if you are unlucky
enough to receive a brand new virus after installing NBY, it will
not recognise it until the virus signature file has been upgraded.
(see page 15).
Secondly, unless you are using it, it will not do anything for you,
i.e., it is not an automatic process. If you forget to scan a
single floppy coming into your possession, you may get infected by
that disk.
Thirdly, you may get false alarms. Since virus scanners scan for
program code, it is always possible that by coincidence that same
code resides legitimately within a program. In that case, NBY
would of course give you an alert.
All these problems can be overcome by an extremely effective
hardware card, called ThunderByte, available from cALMER Utilities.
ThunderByte is a hardware card which protects your system even
before DOS becomes active. Therefore, your system is protected
even against boot sector viruses. Specifically though, ThunderByte
PREVENTS any damage, rather than cure it as it intercepts any viral
activities and allows you to stop the damage before it occurs.
Contact us for more information. (see page 49)
MSDOS Version 6 Users: Version 6 of MSDOS comes with a utilitiy to
double your disk space. NBY and all other cALMER Utilities
programs work fine with DOS 6 and double space. However, if you
install double space after the cALMER Utilities you have to
reinstall the cALMER Utilities.
(Page 45 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 46
NBY
G.NBY.CRC Data File Structure
The Data file structure is quite simply a list of full path and
filenames. When you run NBY, it will read one line after the next
and scan the specified files, appending a code at the end of the
line. This code is compared in subsequent runs and if any mismatch
is found, NBY will warn you of the change and give you the option
of accepting it.
See the supplied file NBY.CRC for details. You can use AUTOEDIT
(see page 10) for that purpose.
H.What to do when a virus hits
First and foremost, there is no need to reformat your hard disk !
Let us assume that your PC has been infected by a virus which
attacks other programs. You will notice that immediately when you
run any cALMER .EXE file. They warn you thereof and will no longer
run. Here is what to do in such an instance:
TURN PC OFF immediately.
Get a WRITE-PROTECTED DOS Master disk, insert it in drive A and
turn PC Back on again.
Log onto Drive C:
Rename AUTOEXEC.BAT to a.bat
Rename CONFIG.SYS to c.sys
Copy the entire DOS disk back into your DOS directory on your hard
disk. (USE 'COPY' command, N O T 'xcopy'
Put system back onto hard disk ('SYS C:')
COPY COMMAND.COM back onto hard disk, ensuring that you have a copy
in the root directory. Remember, we do not have a CONFIG.SYS at
present which may point COMSPEC to your DOS directory.
REBOOT computer from HARD disk. If successful, it should ask for
date and time. DO N O T run any programs !!!!
Go into cALMER directory.
COPY NBY.EXE to xxx.exe where xxx is the name you gave NBY earlier.
RUN 'XXX C:\' and let NBY remove the infected files.
RENAME A.BAT and C.SYS back to their original names.
Reboot
Restore all programs from printout after checking every floppy to
ensure you are not carrying the virus back onto the hard disk.
Finally, if you still have problems, contact cALMER Utilities.
Remember, we are here to help, to ensure you are
I.Locking computer after viral attack
This is only available to registered users.
You can lock the computer after NBY has detected a virus attack by
ceating a file called "NBY.MSG". Naturally, rename it to whatever
you have renamed NBY to. The file must reside in the same
directory as the program is in. If the file is not present, normal
NBY messages and directives will appear. DO NOT COPY THIS FILE
ONTO YOUR RESCUE DISK AS IT INHIBITS AUTOMATIC RECOVERY !
This file can be as long as you like, there will be a pause after
every screen full. The last screen should be 2 lines shorter since
NBY displays its own message at the end. The file must be a
standard ASCII file (use Autoedit to generate it).
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 47
NBY
If the last line in the file contains the word "lock", the computer
will be locked and must be reset with a hardware reset.
Sample NBY.MSG:
:: Your computer has been infected by a virus.
::
:: Please call
::
:: Joe Blow
:: Systems Support Analyst
:: Internal Phone Number 1234
::
::
:: This computer is now locked up !
(Page 47 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 48
NOCURSOR
XXV. NOCURSOR
A.Purpose
Hide the cursor
B.Associated files
NOCURSOR.COM the program.
C.Installation
No special installation requirement
D.Syntax
NOCURSOR <Enter>
E.General Comments
Designed to be used in batch files to stop the display of the
system cursor.
F.Potential problems
TCT (see page 54) will overwrite the cursor value to TCTs pre-
definition once you return to DOS.
(Page 48 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 49
Product Support
XXVI. PRODUCT SUPPORT
cALMER Utilities can be contacted on
CompuServe ID 10033,2660, Claude Almer (registration accepted)
GT NET node 302/005, Claude Almer (registration via Net mail
accepted)
GT NET echo cALMER Utilities Support. Echo ID 702/579 (no
registration)
Voice cALMER Utilities [61+] (02) 482-1715 (registration
accepted)
Fax cALMER Utilities [61+] (02) 482-1905 (registration
accepted)
BBS cALMER 1 [61+] (02) 482-1716 (registration
accepted)
or by mail:
cALMER Utilities
361 Somerville Road
Hornsby Heights, NSW 2077
Australia
(Page 49 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 50
QT2
XXVII. QT2
A.Purpose
Display Time in mnemonic form
B.Associated files
QT2.COM the program.
C.Installation
No special installation requirement
D.Syntax
QT2 <Enter>
E.General Comments
QT2 is a public domain program which has been modified slightly by
cALMER Utilities.
F.Potential problems
None.
(Page 50 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 51
SHOWPOST
XXVIII. SHOWPOST
A.Purpose
SHOWPOST is a Power On Self Test (P.O.S.T.) card that monitors the
test results from the BIOS of your 286/386/486 ISA motherboard when
you power up.
As the system powers up a display steps through the P.O.S.T. codes
generated by the BIOS and will halt if an error is detected.
Displayed in a Hex code, any errors will be reported on an LED
display that either replaces your old speed display or can be
fitted to a blank front panel. If no errors are detected the
display can be used to display CPU speed or any other information,
depending on the software in use. The cALMER Utilities fully
support the SHOPOST display panel.
B.Features
Displays P.O.S.T. error codes on an LED display
Can display CPU speed when P.O.S.T. completed
Software listing P.O.S.T. error codes
Software to test the SHOWPOST card
The SHOWPOST kit contains:
SHOWPOST card (Plugs into an 8 or 16 bit slot)
Connecting cable
LED display
Software to test the card
Installation and users guide
The SHOWPOST kit is covered by a 24 month warranty.
C.Available from
SHOWPOST is manufactured and distributed by:
Custom Built Computers Pty. Ltd.
Suite 1
1 Short Street
Carlton, NSW 2218
Australia
Phone: (02) 587 7111
Fax: (02) 587-9973
SHOWPOST is also available from cALMER Utilities
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 52
SIPLUS
XXIX. SIPLUS
A.Purpose
Show systems information
B.Associated files
SIPLUS.EXE the program.
SIPLUS.REP the report
C.Installation
No installation requirements
D.Syntax
SIPLUS <Enter>.
E.General Comments
When SIPLUS finished gathering systems information you can navigate
around the information screens with the cursor keys. Pressing the
<Print Screen> key will print the entire report to your printer.
F.Potential problems
SIPLUS thoroughly tests the CPU, ROM and Math Co-
Processor. Unfortunately, on some PCs (although very
rare), the program will crash the system. If SIPLUS
crashes on your system, you have to suppress either the
ROM test (see page 16) or the CPU test (page 16)
All information which is reported is as the system or DOS
reports it to the calling program. There is absolutely
no point in calling cALMER Utilities and complain that
SIPLUS reports say less memory than you think you have,
or, disk drives to be of some other type than they are.
For example, if you happen to be using SuperStor, SIPLUS
will report your hard disk to be a RAM drive. This is
the fault of SuperStor, not SIPLUS. (see page 44)
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 53
STAMP
XXX. STAMP
A.Purpose
Set file Date, time and attributes.
B.Associated files
STAMP.EXE the program
C.Installation
No special installation requirements.
D.Syntax
Stamp FileSpec [date] [time] Switches <Enter>
The date and time format depend on your PC setup and are the same
format as you use in DOSs commands.
Where FileSpec is any DOS files specification, including wildcarts.
The following switches have the following effects:
/a+ Set archive flag
/a- Clear archive flag
/a Toggle archive flag
/c Confirm before change
/h+ Set hidden flag
/h- Clear hidden flag
/h Toggle hidden flag
/m Make a Zero-length file, but only if the file specified does
not exist already.
/now Set time and date to current date and time
/r+ Set read-only flag
/r- Clear read-only flag
/r Toggle read-only flag
/s+ Set systems flag
/s- Clear systems flag
/s Toggle systems flag
/z Zap (clear) all attributes
E.General comments
Stamp can be used to clear attributes from files which you can not
erase normally. It duplicates DOS's ATTRIB function but also allows
you to set file time. If you make an error on the command line,
STAMP will show you where the error was. Assuming that you have
TCT (see page 54) loaded, STAMP will push an up-arrow onto the
keyboard, ready to edit the command line.
F.Potential problems
You could delete important system files in your root directory,
like MSDOS.SYS etc. after clearing the attributes of those files.
Ensure that you leave system files alone !
(Page 53 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 54
TCT
XXXI. TCT
A.Purpose
TCT is a condensed terminate and stay resident program. It requires
an AT PC, extended keyboard and a BIOS which supports extended
keyboard functions.
Once installed, TCT provides you with pre-programmable function
keys, mouse support even in programs which do not support mouse,
DOS command line editors, different DOS prompt colours on different
drives, quick changing to the next drive etc.
B.Associated files
TCT.COM the TSR program
TCTOFF.COM disable TCT from batch files
TCTON.COM re-enable TCT from batch files
TCTSETUP.EXE the TCT installation / manager
TCTSETUP.CAC configuration file.
C.Installation
Installation of TCT requires the running of the installation
program TCTSETUP. TCTSETUP will automatically save the new values
when you exit it by pressing <Esc>.
Running TCTSETUP from DOS provides a menu with the following
options:
1. Function key definition
Allows up to 16 characters to be assigned to each
Function Key. Some PCs do not return values on all 12
Function keys, those keyboards will only show 10 Keys
for definition. Pressing <CTRL-Enter> returns to the
main menu.
2. Cursor size
Allows you to specify the size of your cursor. Note that
the current video mode only is saved. If you have a
dual-monitor system, i.e. a colour monitor and a
monochrome monitor, you have to re-run TCTSETUP in the
other mode to define that mode's cursor style.
3. Mouse speed and buttons
Assuming that a mouse driver has been loaded on your
system, you can define the mouse speed and keys to the
left and right-hand buttons.
4. Keyboard repeat rate
This item effects the speed of repeat on your keyboard
when you hold a key down. Adjust it to your own
requirement.
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 55
TCT
5. Delay before keyboard repeats
So that you do not get accidental repeats of keys, you
can specify how long it will take for the keyboard to
start repeating, from a quarter to a full second.
6. Prompt Colours for different drives
For each drive on your system, you can specify a
different colour at the DOS prompt. On the author's
system, the floppy drive colours are on inverse and
flashing as a quick and easy identification that the
currently logged drive is a floppy disk.
7. Minimum / maximum drive for Alt Plus/Minus
You can jump back and forth between drives via Keypad-
Alt-Plus and keypad-Alt-Minus, however, you may want to
exclude your floppy disks from this cycle. Define the
minimum and maximum drives in his window.
TCTSETUP can also be used to manage TCTs alarm system:
8. Alarm Handler
TCTSETUP ALARM <Enter> allows you to specify an alarm
time, how long it will beep and what message it will
display.
TCTSETUP ALARM ON <Enter> will switch the alarm on.
TCTSETUP ALARM OFF <Enter> switches it off.
Note: The Alarm handler uses the AT CMOS information.
Some AT BIOS erroneously switch the alarm on every time
you reboot. If you find your PC to be one of them and
you do not wish to use the alarm feature, add the line
'TCTSETUP ALARM OFF' after TCT in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.
D.Syntax
TCT <Enter>
If you run TCT from your AUTOEXEC.BAT, you can stop if from loading
simply by hitting a key before TCT is loaded. Furthermore, you can
interrogate the error level after TCT and jump to a different
section of the program if TCT is not loaded. (If error level 1
goto NoTct)
E.General comments
TCT requires a 100% Microsoft compatible mouse to be able to
provide the full mouse support.
F.Potential problems
TCT's alarm handler will stop all activities on your system until
you press the Escape key. If the alarm goes off and you are not in
attendance, your system will be as good as locked up.
In general, the use of the Alarm handler is not recommended in
multi-tasking or networking environments.
(Page 55 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 56
TCT
Some programs do not work correctly when TCT is loaded because TCT
remaps the keyboard. You can disable TCT in batch files by adding
a 'TCTOFF' before calling the program.
TCT will automatically re-instate itself when you return to DOS.
If you run TCT from anywhere other than the DOS command
line or AUTOEXEC.BAT, you will crash your system. This
is because TCT is a TSR.
(Page 56 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 57
TODAY
XXXII. TODAY
A.Purpose
Run any command once a day from your AUTOEXEC.BAT
B.Associated files
TODAY.EXE the program
TODAY.DAT the data file
C.Installation
Installation is down by modifying the data file to your
requirements. You can use AUTOEDIT (see page 10) to edit the file.
D.Syntax
Today <Enter> performs all commands due today unless the program
has already been run.
Today /DoIt <Enter> performs all commands due today, even if the
program was already run today.
Today /test <Enter> displays to screen what commands would be
performed.
Today :nn <Enter> Where nn is a day number
E.Structure of TODAY data file
Lines beginning with a semicolon are treated as comments and are
ignored.
Lines can contain any valid DOS command.
Lines beginning with a colon (':') are date specifiers and have the
following meaning. (All performances are acted on the last
specified date until you specify a new one. See the supplied data
file for details.)
:TOD Today
:MON Monday
:TUE Tuesday
:WED Wednesday
:THU Thursday
:FRI Friday
:SAT Saturday
:SUN Sunday
:LAS Last WORK-DAY of the month
:FIR First WORK-DAY of the month
:01 1st. day of the month
:02 2nd. etc. NOTE: LEADING ZERO IS REQUIRED
..
..
:31 31st.
:32 will never execute. However, you can use invalid day
numbers and execute them from the command line. E.g.
"Today :55" will perform anything you specified after the
:55 definition. Since the day of month will never go that
high, it will never execute automatically.
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cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 58
TODAY
:SET XX=YY will set the specified environment variable in the
master environment. Note that the normal SET command does
not work since TODAY calls a batch file. Once the batch
file finished executing, the environment variable created
with SET no longer exists.
You can use AUTOEDIT (see page 10) to edit the file.
F.General comments
Today generates a batch file which is then executed and deleted.
You can use all DOS Batch commands, like goto, if error level and
so on.
G.Potential problems
Since TODAY shells to DOS and then returns, it is imperative that
your data file does NOT contain any TSR (Terminate and Stay
Resident) programs. A systems crash is the inevitable result if
you do so.
TODAY determines if it was run today by checking the file date of
the data file. Thus, if you edit it and then try to run TODAY, it
will tell you that it has already been run today. You can easily
overcome this by typing 'Today /DoIt', or, better still, 'Today
/test'.
(Page 58 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 59
VL
XXXIII. VL
A.Purpose
Set or delete the Volume Label on any read/write disk
drive
B.Associated files
VL.EXE, the program.
C.Installation
No special installation requirement
D.Syntax
VL <Enter> starts VL in interactive mode. Enter the Drive and the
Volume Label, press <Ctrl-Enter> or <F10> to set volume.
To delete a volume label, enter blank text only on the right hand
side.
VL drive volumename <Enter> sets the volume name specified on the
drive specified.
E.General Comments
VL .allows setting of volume labels in upper and lower case, up to
eleven characters.
F.Potential problems
VL does not set volume names on CD ROMs.
(Page 59 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 60
How to register
XXXIV. HOW TO REGISTER
Corporate users please call for site license costs.
Private Registration fees:
Australia (any payment method) $AUS 60.00
Overseas via Credit Card (inc. p&h) $AUS 70.00
Overseas via xfer to Bank (inc. p&h) sFR 85,00
Printed documentation add $AUS 25.00
You may pay your private registration fee in several ways:
Credit Card orders, mailed or faxed to cALMER Utilities on
[61+] (02) 482 1905, or via CompuServe (ID 10033,2660, Claude
Almer), or private GT NET Net mail (GT/NET 302/005), or using the
on-line ordering system on the cALMER 1 support BBS on [61+] (02)
482 1716 (N81, 1200-9600b), or Credit Card orders by phone to
cALMER Utilities [61+] (02) 482 1715 Mon-Fri, 9:00am to 5:00pm
(Australian Eastern Standard Time = UCT - 9:00h)
European users may also pay by direct transfer in Swiss Currency to
the following bank account:
Account Number (GIRO No) 553.10.825.477.9
cALMER Software Services (Europe)
Hr. St. Jud
Schweizerische Volksbank
Stadthausstrasse 16
CH-8401 Winterthur
Switzerland
Phone: [41+] (052) 82 11 11
and mailing or faxing order and payment record to cALMER Utilities
on [61+] (02) 482 1905
When faxing your credit card order, or, when ordering by mail,
please fill in the registration form which you will find on page
10. This will ensure that we receive all the required information.
(Page 60 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 61
Other Services by cALMER Utilities
XXXV. OTHER SERVICES BY CALMER UTILITIES
cALMER Utilities provides specialised programming services by Calmer
Software Services Pty. Ltd. to the corporate community. The services
range from simple one-off programming tasks to complete ongoing support
services, including data entry for statistical surveys, analysis reports
of such data and the like.
Resource pooling of programming functions collected over years of
experience ensures clients receive top-of-the-art technology at the best
possible rates. No matter what your programming needs, we are capable
of suggesting a solution to you.
(Page 61 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 62
Index
XXXVI. INDEX
.
.cac files, 11
.SY1 System File, 41
.SY2 System File, 41
/
/DoIt, 28, 38, 41, 57, 58
4
4dos, 25, 32
A
alarm
message, 55
multi-tasking systems, 55
on, 55
turning off, 55
auto-answer in nby, 16
Autoedit, 11
autoedit, 22
autoedit.dat, 11
automatically backup important files, 38
B
backup program, 38
boot sector, 13
bootable disks, 13
bootpast, 13
brand floppy disks, 13, 33
C
cALMER Utilities installation, 15, 41
calmer.ctl, 15
CALMER.EXE, 15
calmer.log, 16
calmercal, 15
can not erase file, 53
capsoff, 20
CAPSON, 20
capson, 20
CCD, 21
ccd, 21, 33
change cALMER Utilities colours, 17
change colours, 17
change directory, 21
change environment variables, 32
check a floppy disk for viruses, 41
(Page 62 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 63
Index
clear hidden attribute, 53
clear read-only attribute, 53
clear systems attribute, 53
cmos alarm, 55
CompuServe ID, 49
context-sensitive help, 12
Craig Derouen, 40
CURSOR, 23
cursor, 23
cursor size, 54
Custom Built Computers, 51
D
daysold=, 27
default setup, 15
DELBACK, 26
delete all files, 37
delete this directory, 37
delete volume label, 59
delete=, 27
deleted files, 33
deleteing zero-length files, 27
detect known viruses, 41
disableing TCT, 56
disk space useage, 29, 37, 38
DISKFREE, 29
display time, 50
distribution disk, 17
DL, 30
dos 6 and nby, 45
dr dos 6 and nby, 42
E
editing hidden files, 11, 26, 33
editing read-only files, 11, 26, 33
EE, 32
environment variable, 58
european registration fee, 60
evaluation time, 7
exploding windows, 16
F
FASTNBY, 33
fastnby, 21
file attributes, 22
file-find, 21
find executable files, 21, 30, 33
first work-day, 57
FORMAT, 35
formatting floppy disk for nby, 15
FORMFEED, 36
function key definition, 54
G
(Page 63 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 64
Index
generate a formatted disk for nby, 15
graphic representation of file size, 30
GT NET echo, 49
GT NET node, 49
H
help with 'shell' in config.sys, 12
holidays, adding your own, 18
How to register, 60
I
installation program, 15
introduction, 7
K
keep a log of activities, 16
keep=, 27
keyboard repeat rate, 54
KILLDIR, 37
L
last work-day, 57
LAZYBACK, 38
lazyback, 13
let nby answer automatically, 16
log of activities, 16
M
make a zero- length file, 53
master environment, 32
messages on floppy boot sectors, 14
modified files, 33
mouse, 55
mouse speed, 54
MOVE, 40
move files to other directories, 40
msdos 6 and nby, 45
N
NBY, 41
nby
after
adding memory, 43
reformatting hard disk, 43
systems changes, 43
allow command.com file-date changes, 16
and dr dos 6, 42
and msdos 6, 45
and superstor, 44
answer automatically, 42
command.com file-date changes, 43
crc, 41
(Page 64 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 65
Index
disable the rescue disk, 42
nby.msg, 46
no rescue disk, 42
re-generate a rescue disk, 43
rescue disk, disable, 42
rom mismatch error, 43
rom-lock, 16
virus signature file, 41
new files, 33
new in Series 134, 9
NOCURSOR, 48
non-bootable hard disk, 42
non-system disk in drive a, 13
not born yesterday, 44
numoff, 20
numon, 20
O
once a day, run any command, 57
Other Services by cALMER Utilities, 61
outdated virus signature file alert, 16
P
pcmos, 25, 32
printed documentation, 10
product support, 49
programming service, 61
Q
QT2, 50
R
re-generate nby rescue disk, 43
re-install cALMER Utilities, 15
recursive:, see recursive
reformat your hard disk, 46
registering the cALMER Utilities, 16
registration fee, 60
REGISTRATION FORM, 10
registration form, 10
remove a directory, 37
remove backup files, 26
rename directories, 40
rescue disk, 15, 42
restore original boot sector, 14
run any command once a day, 57
S
scan a floppy for viruses, 41
scroloff, 20
scrolon, 20
set volume label, 59
shareware, 7
(Page 65 of 66)
cALMER Utilities Series 134 Page 66
Index
show files with, 30
show hidden files, 30
show systems files, 30
SHOWPOST, 51
showpost, 9, 35
SIPLUS, 52
site license information, 7
STAMP, 53
stamp, 11, 22, 28
superstor, 52
superstor and nby, 44
support bbs, 15
switch caps status, 20
switch numlock status, 20
switch scroll lock status, 20
T
tct, 23, 54
tctsetup, 54
ThunderByte, 45
TODAY, 57
trojan, 41
tsr, 58
U
update nby virus signature file, 15
V
virus signature file, 41
virus signature file out of date alert, 16
VL, 59
volume label, setting of, 59
W
warranties, 8
whistling windows, 16
Z
zero-length files
automatic deletion, 26
create, 53
deleteing, 27
(Page 66 of 66)