🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Oct27.003243.1968@cnsvax.uwec.edu> nyeda@cnsvax.uwec.edu (David Nye) writes:
>In article <1992Oct26.175921.24842@menudo.uh.edu>, mylai@cs.uh.edu (Ming-Yung Lai) writes:
>>  Hi, can someone tell me where to get some MSDOS programs that can prevent
>>  someone from booting my PC? (like PASSWORD protection.) Thank you.
>
>If security
>is really a problem, consider trading up to a machine with a 
>built-in password capability in the BIOS and a front panel key
>lock (a spy could bring their own power cord).

And, of course, keep the case-lock key somewhere safe (like in 
your pocket). It's also helpful to keep the machine's documentation
somewhere out of the way --- that way if someone finds the key into
your case, they'll have problems figuring out which jumper to hit
to clear to password (or, if they drain the CMOS, they might have
problems reseting your CMOS).

Other alternatives, similarily heavy-duty, are to use a removable
hard drive. The machine's there, but the hard drive (and all your
data!) can be locked in a safe. Not as good (but better than just
asking for a password) is one of the software packages that ask
for a password before starting the DOS boot process. (They hook
into the master boot code which decides which partition to boot 
from.)  Usually booting from floppy won't get around them because
they either change the type of partitions - to something that
DOS doesn't recognize and so won't access. The really good ones
MOVE the data structure that DEFINES partitions (!) or encode it
... to get around those, you either have to know the password
or dissassemble the code that would get executed if you knew the
password. 

DR-DOS 6's hard disk security is rather like this - if you enable
it, it changes the disk partitions from types 01, 04, 05 or 06 to
C1, C4, C5, or C6. So booting off an MS-DOS floppy won't access 
them :-) though booting of a DR-DOS floppy will :-(.  Still, it's
more than MS-DOS has. Also, if you use Setup to enable the security
it puts a password-request program in config.sys. (Side note : if
you enable DR-DOS security, then disable it, I'd suggest disabling
it through Setup, not just removing the driver from CONFIG.SYS. That
way Setup will change the partition types back to something MS-DOS
(and earlier version of DR-DOS) will recognize. Back when I was an
MS-DOS support engineer, I helped quite a few folks who were trying
to install MS-DOS over DR-DOS to change those partition types.
If they had Norton's it's trivial, but if not we get to play with
debug :-) which isn't really THAT hard either....

Enough rambling.

-jen
no, not speaking for microsoft...