At the University of Rochester, we have a Microcomputer Information
Center which serves as a repository of both commercial and PD
software. The University community is thus able to try out a lot of the
packages before actually going out and buying it. We have some of this software
installed on hard disks on XT's and AT's. We try our best to keep anyone
from surreptitiously copying any of the commercial software, including
posting of signs against copying. What we would like to be able to is
to somehow make it difficult for users to copy anything off of our hard disks.
Two things come to my mind on ways of implementing this :
1. If only there was a way to set an attribute of the program to
'protected' a la macintosh programs, that would come up with a
message saying that this program can not be copied.
2. Another way would be to somehow modify DOS so that copying from
C: was disabled. If COPY had been an external command, a batch file
would have done the job.
Any suggestions ? All hints welcome.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Atul Kacker
UUCP : {allegra|seismo|decvax}!rochester!ur-tut!akk2
BITNET : AKK2@UORDBV
Even better than that, if the copy is from C:, disable ^C and ^BREAK and
ring the bell till someone from the MicroLab types in a password...
I can see it now:
Me> Copy c:dbaseIII a:
BEEEEEEEEP
MicroLab> What are you DOING?
Me> Nothing (trying in vain to clear screen)
MicroLab> This is a clear case of attempted THEFT...
NOTE: There are always ways around schemes like this (if I have my *own*
cp program...)
--
"Never trust an idea you get sitting down" - Nietzche
------------ {harvard,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!uwhsms!plocher (work)
John Plocher {harvard,seismo}!uwvax!puff!plocher (school)
------------ decvax!encore!vaxine!spark!121!0!John_Plocher (FidoNet)
I am reasonably sure you can't do that. Never caught it in the DOS
Tech Ref manual :-).
>2. Another way would be to somehow modify DOS so that copying from
> C: was disabled. If COPY had been an external command, a batch file
> would have done the job.
>
How about:
Go through COMMAND.COM and find the COPY command. This is really easy to do
with Norton Utilities. Make it anything you want, the more bizarre the better.
This should disable the COPY command within DOS. Then just write your own,
naming it anything you want. This way, you can restrict access better. It's
hardly foolproof, but it oughta work to keep at least some people from
copying things. This is simple and quick, and should help until some real
guru comes along with a better way.
>Atul Kacker
--
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
- Jim Frost * The Madd Hacker -
UUCP: ..!harvard!bu-cs!bucsb!madd | ARPANET: ma...@bucsb.bu.edu
CSNET: madd%bucsb@bu-cs | BITNET: cscc71c@bostonu
-----------------------------------+-----------+------------------------
"Use the key, unlock the door | o/ <- Rudolf the
See what Fate might have in store." -- Rush | _O_ waving penguin
--
Michael A. Shiels
UUCP: { clyde, decvax, ihnp4, tektronix, ubc-vutzoo }!watmath!watale!broehl