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| Thread ID: 15102 | 2002-01-28 23:31:00 | password protect in Dos | Guest (0) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 33306 | 2002-01-28 23:31:00 | Hi Folks, A freind of mine, is running WN 3.1 and would like to password protect the opening of 3.1 by (1) confiquring the computer to open in dos on startup, and (2)protect the opening of 3.1 by typing a password in dos. any ideas would be much appreciated, cheers, Bob |
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| 33307 | 2002-01-29 03:04:00 | Im not sure if DOS has any inherent protection in it, and if it does how good it is. The following method works reasonably well, although not against people experienced with computers. Booting into DOS is easy, simply do not run win.exe in the autoexec.bat file. Now, the trick is to name the directory you want to protect using ASCII codes. These codes can be generated by holding down the ALT key and typing in numbers, for eg a space is Alt-255. The codes you use are unimportant, so long as the directory name contains at least one character not found on the keyboard. Then it is impossible to access the directory or any files inside the directory without knowing the codes to type in the directory name. Just dont forget the codes otherwise you are buggered, you cant delete or access the directory if you cant type the name, and no point and click in DOS, so you would have to format. You will then want to create a seperate batch file inside this directory, which adds appropriate subfolders in your newly named WIN directory to the PATH variable, and remove these lines from your autoexec.bat file. Usually the only two directories added are C:\WIN and C:\WIN\COMMAND, but just copy them from autoexec.bat and rename the directory to match your new name. For example if your directory is called C:\WlQ, then create a file in this directory called path.bat, and add the following line to this file SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\WlQ;C:\WlQ\blah where blah is the name of any other subdirectory you need on the path. As long as they are unable to discover the codes to type in the directory name, they cannot access any files inside this directory. The more ASCII characters in the directory name, the more secure it is. |
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| 33308 | 2002-01-29 04:02:00 | There is no security if anyone can boot from a floppy, and/or can open the box. Iain's suggestion is not secure either -- Norton's NU and Buerg's LIST programmes will beat that. There will be others. I could write one in five minutes. But, like a lock, it will keep honest people out. Or slow them down. Another approach would be to have a lockable drawer. Put the keyboard and mouse in it and turn the key. Marginally more secure would be a BIOS password, if the copmputer is modern enough to have that. |
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| 33309 | 2002-01-29 05:46:00 | a BIOS password might help you there, to do this you need to get to the bios setup and select the password option in there, to get to the BIOS setup press esc or f1 as it starts to boot up. if esc or f1 dont work (i cant quite remember the exact keys) let me know what type of computer he is running. | Guest (0) | ||
| 33310 | 2002-01-29 21:03:00 | Cheers, thanks for all your help, regards, Bob |
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