///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // // Welcome to Folder Guard // for Microsoft(r) Windows(r) 95! // // Version 4.05 // // Last updated: October 12, 1997 // // Copyright (c) 1997, ChaoSoft // All rights reserved. // // http://www.chaosoft.com // "The Way Software Should Be!" (tm) // // _______ // ____|__ | (R) // --| | |------------------- // | ____|__ | Association of // | | |_| Shareware // |__| o | Professionals // -----| | |--------------------- // |___|___| MEMBER // ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// This file contains introductory information regarding Folder Guard. STOP! IMPORTANT NOTE 1: Before reading any further, please verify that you have a complete set of the files originally included in the Folder Guard package. A list of the files may be found in the VENDINFO.DIZ file, supplied with the package. If any file listed in the VENDINFO.DIZ file (or the VENDINFO.DIZ file itself) is missing, the package is incomplete and its further use or distribution is PROHIBITED. To obtain a complete package of the software, please contact us at the address at the end of this file. IMPORTANT NOTE 2: Before you use this software, please read the ChaoSoft License Agreement, which may be found in the VENDINFO.DIZ file, supplied with the package. By using Folder Guard you agree to be bound by the terms of the license. TABLE OF CONTENTS -------------------------------------------------------------- 1. About Folder Guard 2. System requirements 3. Installing and uninstalling Folder Guard If anything goes wrong... 4. This is 'Try Before You Buy' software! 5. Obtaining updates to the software 6. Getting customer support --------------------------------------------------------------- 1. About Folder Guard ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Folder Guard is a software-only security solution for personal or publicly accessible computers running the Windows 95 operating system. Its features include: o Complete control over access to folders of your choice. You can hide or make actually "read-only" any folder, so that access to its contents will be restricted to all applications including Explorer, MS Office, MS-DOS programs, common dialogs, etc. o Optional user validation at logon, which helps protect your Windows 95 files from intruders. You can choose to disable the Cancel button on the logon prompt or set up a password to logon as "default" user. A log file can be set up to help you keep track of the use of your computer. o Password access to protected folders that can be set up, or changed, at any time. o Flexible control of user access to many Windows 95 resources, such as the Start Menu, Control Panel, etc. o User-specific access rights to folders and to other Windows 95 resources that you can configure separately for each user of your computer. o Easy and intuitive user interface that helps you set up the attributes of folders you want to protect, and helps you control other settings, as well. o Protection that's transparent to both users and applications. While protecting specified folders and other resources, Folder Guard uses only about 30K of RAM. o Designed to operate with or without the use of System Policies, on a stand-alone computer or on a network. You will find Folder Guard indispensable if you share your computer with others and you don't want any changes made to your files. Or, if you allow your kids to play games on your system from time to time, and want to be sure that everything will be OK when they finish. Or, if you don't want your parents to see some of your files. Or, if you are a network administrator and your users give you a headache messing the files up all the time. However you use Windows 95, you may have concerns about the security, privacy, or confidentiality of your files. And now you have a single, effective solution -- Folder Guard. WARNING: Folder Guard is a powerful tool, which should be used with care. Using it thoughtlessly, you can inadvertently make your computer inaccessible. Please take time reading Folder Guard Help before enabling the protection of folders! Folder Guard includes automatic Setup utility, allowing you to painlessly install and uninstall Folder Guard. Extensive context- sensitive Help provides a complete user's guide to Folder Guard. "The way software should be!"(tm) ____________________________________________________________________ 2. System requirements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Folder Guard is designed for the operating system Windows 95. It will NOT install or work under Windows NT (you can use instead the built-in security features of Windows NT to controll access to the folders). At least 1 MB (one megabyte) of free space on your hard disk is required to install Folder Guard. _____________________________________________________________________ 2. Installing and uninstalling Folder Guard ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Folder Guard comes with a convenient and flexible Setup utility, which allows you to both install and uninstall Folder Guard. To install Folder Guard: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a) If you have obtained Folder Guard as a compressed file, uncompress the file into a temporary folder on a hard disk, or on a floppy diskette. b) Open folder containing the uncompressed set of Folder Guard files and double-click 'Setup' (or 'Setup.exe'). NOTE: If you have a previous version of Folder Guard already installed on your computer and have set up the administrator's password, you will be prompted for this password to continue the installation. Setup may also prompt you to restart Windows before the installation can be continued. c) The Setup utility will suggest you the folder in which to install Folder Guard. You may accept the suggestion or choose other location for Folder Guard files. You can also specify whether to add Folder Guard items to Start Menu and whether to create a Desktop folder for Folder Guard components. d) Setup utility will copy the files into the specified folder. NOTE: Except for the files copied into the destination folder and, optionally, for the shortcuts added to the Start Menu and/or to the Desktop folder (as described above), Setup does not install or modify any other files on your computer. e) At the end of the installation procedure Setup will prompt you to enter your name and a Registration Code. If you have purchased a license for continued use of Folder Guard and received your Registration Code, you may enter it at that time, and the evaluation version of Folder Guard will be converted into the registered one. Otherwise, you may skip entering the registration code and Folder Guard will operate in the evaluation mode. NOTE: when entering the registration information, please make sure you enter your name in exactly the same way as it is spelled on your Registration Acknowledgment, otherwise the registration code will not be accepted. If your name is not shown on the Registration Acknowledgment, you should spell your name in the same way as you have spelled it when placing the order (that is, if you have ordered with a credit card, enter your name as it appears on the card, etc.) f) After the installation has been complete, you may delete files from the temporary folder, from which you were installing Folder Guard. NOTE: At this point Folder Guard, although installed, in no way affects the operation of your computer. That is, all folders can be freely accessed, as before, and no other restrictions are imposed on the use of the computer. To enable the protection of folders you must run Folder Guard (FGuard.exe) and use its commands to specify how exactly you want your computer to be protected. NOTE: We strongly advise you to backup the Windows Registry before you use Folder Guard for the first time. To backup the Registry, you may wish to make use of the REGISTRY.BAT utility, included in this package. Please refer to Folder Guard Help for more information on the Registry and using the REGISTRY.BAT utility. If anything goes wrong... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have set up Folder Guard so that the folder protection is enabled at Windows startup, and Windows 95 fails to boot properly, this means that Folder Guard is incompatible with some hardware or software already installed on your computer. In such a case, try to boot Windows 95 in the "safe" mode (by pressing F8 while the "Starting Windows 95..." text is shown on the screen and choosing "safe mode" from the menu). After Windows 95 loads in the "safe" mode, run Folder Guard and turn OFF the "Enable at Windows startup: Folder Protection" option. This should make Windows bootable again. Alternatively, boot Windows in the "command prompt only" mode or from a bootable floppy disk. When the command prompt appears, change directory to the folder in which you have installed Folder Guard and rename FGuard.VxD to some other name, for example, FG.VxD. Then try to boot Windows as usually, ignoring the message about a missing FGUARD.VXD driver. After Windows 95 is ready to use, you may wish to uninstall Folder Guard. To uninstall Folder Guard: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE: it is NOT sufficient to simply delete files from the Folder Guard folder to completely uninstall it. Please follow the procedure described below to uninstall Folder Guard and clean up your system configuration: a) Open folder 'Control Panel' and double-click on 'Add/remove programs'. b) Find the line "Chaosoft Folder Guard" in the list of products which can be uninstalled and double-click it. NOTE: If you have set up the administrator's password, you will be prompted for this password to continue. installation. You may also be prompted to restart Windows before the uninstallation can be continued. c) The "Uninstalling Folder Guard" dialog box will appear prompting you to confirm that you want to uninstall Folder Guard. You may choose to deactivate Folder Guard, delete its application files, delete user files related to Folder Guard, and/or reset Folder Guard settings. Press the Help button in this dialog box for more information on the options offered. d) After the uninstalling procedure has been finished, you may need to go to the folder where Folder Guard files were installed and delete remaining files. ____________________________________________________________________ 4. This is TRY BEFORE YOU BUY software ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is NOT freeware or public domain software. This is software which you can "try before you buy". You may install the program in your system and use it for an evaluation period of up to 14 days. After that time, you are required to purchase a license for continued use of the software or else stop using it. You may freely copy and distribute evaluation copies of Folder Guard provided that all conditions specified in the distribution license are satisfied (please see the license agreement in the VENDINFO.DIZ file.) What's the difference between the Evaluation and Licensed versions? There is NO functional difference between the evaluation and licensed versions of this software: all features of the licensed version are available and can be used in the evaluation version. Actually, it's the same program: you may convert an evaluation copy to a registered copy by entering your name and a Registration Code. Similarly, a registered copy of the program may be 'unregistered' by deleting the registration code or by just copying the program to another machine. The only difference between the licensed and evaluation versions is the prompt to disable Folder Guard, displayed by the evaluation version from time to time: ---------------------------------------------------------- | Disable Folder Guard? | | | | (This screen will not appear in the licensed version) | | | | [ Yes ] [ No ] | ---------------------------------------------------------- While you are evaluating Folder Guard, you may reply "No" to this prompt and Folder Guard will continue its normal operation, restricting access to the folders you have chosen to protect. If someone else is using the computer, though, that user may reply "Yes" to this prompt and thus restore access to the protected folders. To prevent this prompt from being displayed, you must register Folder Guard -- either by supplying a valid Registration Code at the end of the installation procedure, or by entering the Registration Code with the "Help | About" command of Folder Guard. To obtain a Registration Code, you must purchase a license for continued use of Folder Guard. Please refer to ORDER.TXT file for detailed instructions and order forms. You may order Folder Guard with a check or money order. Major credit cards accepted. You may also register via CompuServe. Purchase orders from companies accepted. For corporate customers wishing to evaluate the software in the "real" working environment, we can provide temporary registration information upon request. Please refer to ORDER.TXT for more information. What do you get when you purchase a license for Folder Guard ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. A unique Registration Code, allowing you to remove the "Disable Folder Guard" prompt. 2. The privilege to upgrade to all future versions of Folder Guard FREE of charge. 3. FREE 90-day customer support. The following items are not available when you order via the registration web page (but in this case you are not charged for shipping, either): 4. Disk with the latest version of Folder Guard and information about other ChaoSoft products. 5. FREE Compuserve membership with a $15.00 usage credit. This is more than enough online time to have your technical support questions answered, and still have some fun! //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a message via e-mail to: ASP Ombudsman ____________________________________________________________________ 5. Obtaining updates to the software ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You receive the latest version of this program after you order a license for its continued use. Please see file ORDER.TXT for information on ordering ChaoSoft products. The evaluation copies of the software are also available from many other sources, including FTP and WEB sites, online services (COMPUSERVE, AOL, etc.), BBSes, and from disk or CD-ROM vendors. An evaluation version of Folder Guard may be converted into the licensed version by entering a valid registration code. Some of the locations are listed below: http://www.chaosoft.com http://www.pik.com/chaosoft.html http://www.asp-shareware.org ftp://ftp.pik.com ftp://oak.oakland.edu/pub/ad-asp ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win95 CompuServe: GO PIKAPROG, or WINSHARE, or WINUTIL, or WUGNET search for the keyword CHAOSOFT ___________________________________________________________________ 6. Getting customer support ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Before requesting customer support, *PLEASE* check out the on-line Help for Folder Guard. In particular, be sure to look through the "Answers to Frequently Asked Questions" section. If you cannot find the information you need in the documentation, then choose the support option that's right for you: a) For TECHNICAL questions -- about program features, bug reports, suggestions on improving the program, etc. -- please contact the author of Folder Guard, Andrei Belogortseff, directly via e-mail at: Internet: andrei@chaosoft.com or 74634.2173@compuserve.com CompuServe: 74634,2173 In your message, please include information about versions of Windows and Folder Guard you are using and a detailed description of the problem. A reproducible sequence of steps leading to the problem would be of most help. Please do not send any files to this address unless you have been instructed to do so. b) For NON-TECHNICAL questions -- about the status of your order, sales terms, pricing and discount information, etc. -- please contact the authorized dealer at: Pik A Program, Inc. Telephone (212) 598-4939 13 Saint Marks Place Fax (212) 228-5879 New York, NY 10003 CompuServe: GO PIKAPROG USA Internet: mailto:sales@pik.com http://www.pik.com Thank you for using ChaoSoft products! ____________________________________________________________________ ChaoSoft(tm), the ChaoSoft logo, and "The way software should be" are trademarks of ChaoSoft. Pik A Program(tm) is a trademark of Pik A Program, Inc. Microsoft(R) and Windows(R) are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other product names may be registered or unregistered trademarks/tradenames of their respective owners.