///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // // Welcome to // // Folder Guard (tm) for Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 98/95 // // Version 4.11 Last updated: June 8, 1999 // // Copyright (c) 1997-99, WinAbility(R) // All rights reserved. // // http://www.winablity.com/ "The Way Software Should Be!" (tm) // ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// This file contains introductory information regarding software product Folder Guard. TABLE OF CONTENTS -------------------------------------------------------------- 1. About Folder Guard 2. System requirements 3. Upgrading from a previous version of Folder Guard 4. Obtaining an updated Registration Code 5. Installing and uninstalling Folder Guard If anything goes wrong... 6. This is 'Try Before You Buy' software! 7. Obtaining updates to the software 8. Getting customer support --------------------------------------------------------------- 1. About Folder Guard ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Folder Guard is a software-only security solution for personal or publicly accessible computers running the Windows 95/98 operating system. Its features include: o Complete control over access to files and 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 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 files and 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, Active Desktop, etc. o User-specific access rights to files, folders, and to other Windows resources that you can configure separately for each user of your computer. o Preventing some or all users from reformatting local drives of your choice. o Protection from both the local and remote access. o Easy and intuitive user interface that helps you set up the attributes of files and 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 40K 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. CAUTION: 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) NOTE: Besides Folder Guard, we also publish a free utility, Folder Guard Jr. THESE ARE TWO SEPARATE PRODUCTS! Throughout Folder Guard documentation, "Folder Guard" is used to refer to "Folder Guard". In those few instances where we refer to the freeware edition of this software, we use its explicit name, "Folder Guard Jr." We apologize for any confusion the similarity of the names of these two separate products may cause. ____________________________________________________________________ 2. System requirements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Folder Guard is designed for the operating system Windows 95/98. 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. ____________________________________________________________________ 3. Upgrading from a previous version of Folder Guard ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you already have a previous version of Folder Guard running on your computer, we recommend to back it up before installing the upgrade, in order to be able to return to the previous version if you don't like the updated one. To backup the existing installation of Folder Guard, simply create a folder on your hard disk to keep its files (say, C:\Backup\FGuard) and copy all files from the folder where you have previously installed Folder Guard into the backup folder. Also, make sure you have a copy of your registration information saved or printed out on paper, since it may be erased if you decide to uninstall Folder Guard. Having saved the existing files, install the updated version over the previous one, as described below in this file. If you decide to return to the previous version, do the following: 1) uninstall the updated version with Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs command; 2) restore the files you have backed up; 3) run Setup.exe to restore the shortcuts; 4) run FGuard.exe to reenable the protection. ____________________________________________________________________ 4. Obtaining an updated Registration Code ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have purchased a license for Folder Guard versions 4.01-4.08, an UPDATED REGISTRATION CODE is required in order to register version 4.10 and later. The update is FREE! We will be sending out the updated registration codes by email to all registered users we have on file. If you have not received an email from us with the updated registration code, it might be because we have an incorrect or outdated email address of yours. To request your FREE updated registration code, please visit our web site at: http://www.winability.com/upgrade/ You will be prompted to enter the following information: Name your copy of software is registered to: Number of copies you have purchased the license for: Your existing registration code: Order reference number (or approximate date you've placed the order): Your current email address. Make sure your email address is valid! Please allow up to three business days to process your request. Meanwhile please continue using the previous version of Folder Guard. Or, you may wish to install the updated version of Folder Guard in the evaluation mode, and enter your updated code later. We regret any inconveniece this may cause. _____________________________________________________________________ 5. Installing and uninstalling Folder Guard ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Folder Guard comes with an automatic 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 installation program 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.) NOTE: if you have registered version 4.01-4.08 of Folder Guard, an updated registration code is required to register this version. Please see above in this file for information on obtaining the updated code. d) The Setup utility will also suggest you the folder in which to install Folder Guard. You may accept the suggestion or choose other location for Folder Guard files. e) 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. 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 "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. ____________________________________________________________________ 6. 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: --------------------------------------------------------------- | Folder Guard [ Evaluation Version ] | --------------------------------------------------------------- | Information on this computer is protected by an evaluation | | (unlicensed) copy of Folder Guard. | | | | This prompt lets anyone disable Folder Guard and gain | | access to the protected folders and other resources. | | | | [This screen will not appear in the licensed version of | | Folder Guard. Visit http://www.winability.com to register!] | | | | Would you like to disable the protection performed by | | Folder Guard? | | | | [ 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 PURCHASE.TXT file for detailed instructions and order forms. You may order Folder Guard with a check or money order. Major credit cards accepted. 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 PURCHASE.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. FREE upgrades to the updated versions of Folder Guard released within 1 year after the date of purchase. 3. FREE 90-day customer support. ____________________________________________________________________ 7. Obtaining updates to the software ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest evaluation versions of all our products can be downloaded from our web site: http://www.winability.com/ An evaluation version may be converted into the licensed version by entering a valid registration code. ___________________________________________________________________ 8. 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 send an email message to: support@winability.com 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. Thank you for using WinAbility.Com products! ____________________________________________________________________ Folder Guard, WinAbility, WinAbility.Com, its logo, ChaoSoft, and "The way software should be" are trademarks of WinAbility.Com. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other product names may be registered or unregistered trademarks/tradenames of their respective owners.