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BootX v5.23b User's Manual 1 The original BootX file is 79.912 bytes for this update Copyright © 1989-1993 Peter Stuer All rights reserved Release date september 13, 1993 FREEWARE User Manual Member of SHI Safe Hex International COPYRIGHT NOTICE BootX software and documentation are © 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 by Peter Stuer. All rights reserved. DISCLAIMER BootX has been thoroughly tested and is the result of a constant process of changes and updates that started in April 1989. The program has proven to be stable in everyday use. The author is not responsible for any loss of data, damages to software or hardware that may result directly or indirectly from the use of this program. The author reserves the right to make changes to the software or documentation without notice. PREFACE This program is freeware, this means that you can copy it freely as long as you don't ask any more money for it than a nominal fee for copying. If you want to distribute this program you should keep this document with it. This program cannot be used for commercial purposes without written permission from the author. None of the files of the BootX package may be modified. Crunching or achiving is allowed only if none of the BootX files get modified by it. The BootX package may be released in public domain disk libraries, compilation disks, club newsletters or any other kind of disk with the exception of commercially sold Anti-Virus disks. Special permission is hereby granted to include BootX in Public-Domain collections such as Fred Fish's Amiga Library. Special permission is hereby granted to Safe Hex International to modified the location of BootX files on disk to include the BootX package on their SuperKillers disk. BootX User's Manual 2 A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS... Our motto: "Safe Hex", who dares do anything else today?" BootX can be kept up to date thanks to the energy and work put into a global anti-virus information bank called Safe Hex International (SHI) founded by Erik Løvendahl Sørensen from Denmark. This group has over 500 international members now, among them some of the programmers of well-known anti-virus programs. Among the activities of this group are: - Spreading information to anti-virus programmers as fast as possible. - Trying to get names and proof against virus programmers and giving the information to the justice department of his/her country to press charges. - Writing articles in over 20 popular magazines to inform new Amiga users about viruses and how to protect themselves. - Collecting viruses and virus information as well as the programs to kill the viruses. - Helping people to get their money back if it has been lost due to virus infection. - Releasing the newest and best viruskillers found. - A virus bank containing more than 1800 Amiga and PC viruses for supporting good shareware antivirus programs. - SHI have set up over 30 Regional Virus Centers worldwide. These virus centers provide free help against viruses through a hotline and they translate the newest viruskillers and their documentation in their local language. Also the organization is prepared to pay $ 1000 US for the name and the address of a virus programmer. All information will be delt with confidentially and will be handed over to the proper authorities of the virus programmer's country. Data crimes are punished severely most of the time with up to 5 years imprisonment. All this is volunteer work. If you want some more information about this organization or you want to sponsor our work, send a self-addressed envelope and 2 international mail response coupons to the following address: SHI Safe Hex International Erik Loevendahl Soerensen Snaphanevej 10 4720 Praestoe Denmark - Europe BootX User's Manual 3 Phone: + 45 55 99 25 12 Fax : + 45 55 99 34 98 Fidonet (soon) PACKAGE The BootX package consists of: BootX The program file BootX.BBLib The BootX bootblock library BootX.Brain An example of a brainfile BootX.Recog Recognition information BootX.doc This file BootX.history Complete history of BootX BootX.alarm An example of an alarm sample BootX.guide AmigaGuide help file for BootX Locale Language files for BootX NOTE The BootX.BBLib, BootX.Brain, BootX.Recog, BootX.alarm or BootX.guide files are not required to run the program. BootX will display an error message if any of these files are not found but will continue to run. The BootX.Recog file is required if you want to do any checking of files or bootblocks. BootX User's Manual 4 Chapter 1 Introducing BootX BootX is a powerful viruskiller for the Commodore-Amiga computer. It is fast (written completely in assembler) and tries to be as user friendly as possible. 1.1 System requirements BootX should run on any Amiga system with at least 512K RAM and one disk-drive. BootX requires KickStart v2.04 or higher to run. If BootX is run with Workbench v2.1 or higher it will use the locale.library to become language independent. Special care has been taken in the program design to make the program work with 68020, 68030 and 68040 processors without sacrificing 68000 compatibility. Should you have any trouble running BootX on your machine, please write to me with the full specifications of your machine, that is KickStart version, model, expansion boards etc... BootX also requires the ReqTools.library v38 or higher. ReqTools is copyright 1992, 1993 by Nico François. If you want to save and load files that have been crunched with PowerPacker you will also need the PowerPacker.library v35 or higher. PowerPacker is copyright 1992, 1993 by Nico François. To decrunch Library Imploded files during a file check you'll need the Explode.library v6.0 or higher. To use the help feature BootX requires the AmigaGuide.library to display the BootX.guide. This library comes with WorkBench 3.0. BootX is KickStart 3.0 compatible and aware. It will use some of the new features available with this new version of the operating system. 1.2 About the author and the program Since so many people keep asking me about it... I graduated in June 1991 as a programmer-analyst. BootX was created because at the time (April 1989) I did not trust the available viruskillers. In those days only the SCA and the Byte Bandit bootviruses where a threat to our bootblocks. If you have suggestions or remarks about this program, or if you find any bugs, please let me know. If you find any new viruses or linkviruses that BootX does not recognize yet, please send them on a disk to me (my address follows this paragraph). I will return the disk to you with an updated copy of BootX. When sending in bug reports, please state exactly under what circumstances the bug occurred, what equipment was used and what happened. If possible also try to give me enough information to BootX User's Manual 5 reproduce the bug. It is very difficult to find bugs when you don't know exactly what happened. Write to the following address: Fido: 2:292/603.7 (Peter Stuer) UUCP: Peter.Stuer@p7.f603.n292.z2.FidoNet.Org Mail: Peter Stuer Beatrijslaan 2 bus 13 B-2050 Antwerpen L.O. Belgium - Europe 1.3 Gettings updates If you send me a 3½" disk and a letter to get the most recent version of BootX, please don't forget to include enough stamps or money to send your disk back. BootX has been generating a lot of mail and most of the times I had to pay the postal fee myself to send the disk back. Remember, BootX itself is a FREEWARE so no money is expected for it (although I won't refuse it, grin...). Every letter with a disk AND money will be answered AS SOON AS POSSIBLE... And please, NO FOREIGN STAMPS, I can't use them to mail the disk back to you. And please, state your name and address clearly in print because sometimes they are nearly impossible to decipher. I will also try to put the latest available version of BootX on the following BBS (this may change without further notice): Great Balls Of Fire BBS Herman Stevens Lubbeek ADS Regional Coordinator Belgium Tel. +32-(0)16-64.09.12 14400 BPS (N.8.1) v32bis v42 bis 24-24 h. Fido Node 2:292/603 NOTE As of version 1.75 of the BootX 5.23b the new BootX.recog file will be updated by Safe Hex International. Please contact their more than 30 worldwide anti-virus centers to get the newest BootX.reorg update. Or if you have a modem you are welcome to contact: Safe Hex International BBS: + 45 87 25 00 03 (24 hours ISDN, HST DUAL/STD) 1.4 Before you complain... BootX User's Manual 6 I just want to mention a couple of things here that will only show up if you're snooping around in the system when BootX is running. Some of you seem to be running the Commodore development tool Enforcer all the time. I have gotten some letters about the Enforcer hits BootX causes. The only way I can check your memory and vectors is to do some low memory reads. These will typically show up as an Enforcer READ hit to addresses in the region 0x64 to 0x74. This is normal. You can expect this to happen at various points during program execution and particularly during a vector check. Enforcer WRITE hits are not normal. Please report these ! NOTE If you haven't the faintest idea what I am talking about, don't worry. I should only concern those people who know what Enforcer does and how to use it. BootX also launches a task called 'SnoopDos'. This is done to prevent some old PowerPacker trojan horse to install itself in memory. This task uses no CPU time. It is removed when BootX quits running. Also, this task will only be launched when there isn't yet a task called 'SnoopDos' in the system. This ghost task won't prevent the real SnoopDos (by Eddy Carroll, Freely distributable) from being run or functioning correct. 1.5 Acknowledgments - Nico François - For his ReqTools and PowerPacker packages. Also for answering my questions on programming in the new KickStart v2.04 environment and for ßeta testing BootX. - BootX ßeta testers - In no particular order: Nico François (Belgium) Johan Van Houtven (Belgium) Bart Beeckmans (Belgium) Steffen Salzmann (BRD) James Knittle (USA) Erik Løvendahl Sørensen (Denmark) - Lieven Lema (Belgium) - For his translation into French of the BootX locale file. - Patrick Nordvall (Sweden) - For his translation into Swedish of the BootX locale file. - Steffen Salzmann (BRD) - For his translation into German of the BootX locale file. - Mikkel Bille Stegmann (Denmark) - For his translation into Danish of the BootX locale file. BootX User's Manual 7 - Michele Giorato (Italy) - For his translation into Italian of the BootX locale file. - Tor W. Austerslått (Norway) - For his translation into Norwegian of the BootX locale file. - 'Big A' (my A3000) for assembling BootX fast and safe. BootX has been created using the Macro68 Assembler, WShell 2.0 and CygnusEd Professional on an Amiga A3000 25/100 with 6MB memory. The BootX documentation was formatted with my Roff clone ARoff. The assembler source code occupies more than 742.400 bytes and consists of more than 34500 lines. BootX User's Manual 8 Chapter 2 Getting Started This chapter will explain how to install a complete working environment. You should make a copy of the BootX package before starting to make changes. If you are not familiar with copying a disk, see Commodore's Introduction to Amiga for instructions. 2.1 Installing BootX on hard disk An install script has been provided to install BootX on your hard disk. It finds out which configuration you are using and acts accordingly. Simply follow the instructions. If you insist on doing things manually, here's what you should do: - Copy the ReqTools.library into the Libs: directory. - Copy the BootX files in a directory of your choice. - Copy a BootX.catalog file from the Locale/<language> directory to the corresponding Locale: directory of your boot-disk. For instance if you have German selected as the preferred language, copy the file Locale/Catalogs/Deutsch/BootX.catalog to Locale:Catalogs/Deutsch. NOTE Although the files BootX.BBLib, BootX.Brain, BootX.Recog or BootX.Alarm or BootX.guide are not required to run the program, there really isn't much you can do if you do not install them. If you want to install different bootblocks than the standard AmigaDOS Install bootblocks, BootX needs the BootX.BBLib file. If you want to check for viruses of any kind, the BootX.Recog file is needed which contains the identification patterns BootX uses. The BootX.Brain file is simply included as an example. It is advisable you create your own brainfile, should you encounter a bootblock that BootX does not yet recognize. If the bootblock is added to the Recog file later, BootX will use that information. When BootX finds a file called 'BootX.alarm' in the directory from which it started, and this file is a FORM 8SVX sound sample, BootX will play this sample every time an unknown bootblock or a boot-, file or linkvirus is detected. The FORM 8SVX file format is the standard Amiga file format for audio samples. All the major sound digitizers or editing programs use this file format. BootX will use the settings it finds in the file to play the sample. It is very important that you also copy the BootX icon. BootX will try to use it when you iconize the program. BootX User's Manual 9 2.2 Starting BootX BootX was written to be used by both beginners and experienced users. BootX can be started both from CLI and the Workbench. 2.2.1 Starting BootX from the CLI To start BootX from the CLI simply type: 1> BootX followed by a return. This loads the BootX program and starts it. NOTE If you haven't saved your preferences yet, BootX initially tries to load the BootX.BBLib, BootX.Brain, and BootX.Recog files from the current directory. If your current directory is not the same as the one BootX is in, change to it with the CLI command CD: 1> cd <BootX directory> 2.2.1 Starting BootX from the Workbench This is the easy part. Simply click on the accompanying icon and BootX starts. You can also use the Execute Command item from the Workbench menu to run BootX. 2.3 Understanding the language support If you are using Workbench v2.1 or higher BootX will try to open the locale.library to make use of its language support. If BootX finds a BootX catalog in the language currently used in the system BootX will use it. NOTE Make sure BootX can find the appropriate language catalog either in the directory 'Locale:Catalogs/<language name>' or in the directory 'Catalog/<language name>' from which BootX started. BootX User's Manual 10 Chapter 3 The BootX screen A lot of viruscheckers and viruskillers have already written for the Amiga but none of them offered all the features I needed. Since the first virus, the SCA bootvirus, a lot of things have changed in the Amiga scene. File and linkviruses terrorize our hard disks. Virus can spread as part of a crunched executable. Enters BootX. BootX can check the bootblock of a disk, check memory for any resident viruses and scan a disk for link and fileviruses. It can load bootblock libraries with bootblocks for you to write on your disks as an alternative for the boring AmigaDOS Install bootblock. It can load "brain files" so you can add any new bootblocks that BootX does not recognize yet. Let's start a guided tour of the screen. The main screen offers several gadgets and menus. Just click the appropriate gadget or select a menu item to perform an action. NOTE The BootX screen can be popped to the front at any time by pressing the hot key combination which defaults to control left-alt B. 3.1 Quit When you click on the first gadget on the left side of the screen, BootX quits running. Before BootX quits it will check to see if you have made any changes to the BBLib file or to the Brain file. If so, it will ask you first if you want to save the changes you have made. NOTE Watch out that you don't leave any infected disks in your drives when you quit BootX ! Especially disks that are infected with disk-validator viruses. 3.2 Read Bootblock This gadget explicitly instructs BootX to read the bootblock from the current selected drive into the buffer. Normally BootX detects when a new disk is inserted and automatically reads its bootblock. But some old 5¼ drives don't support this automatic diskchange. This gadget can also be used to read the bootblock after another program has modified the bootblock. BootX User's Manual 11 You will also need to use this gadget when you have turned of the auto-diskchange detection or when you have locked a drive (see further). When BootX detects a virus in the bootblock it just read, a requester will be brought up asking you if you would like to kill the virus. If you answer positively by clicking on the Yes gadget, BootX will try to install the bootblock current selected from the Bootblock library. 3.3 Write Bootblock Here you instruct BootX to write the bootblock currently in the buffer to the selected drive. BootX maintains a buffer that holds the last read bootblock. This buffer is also visible in the large display window in semi-ASCII form (more about this later). The buffer allows you to read a bootblock from one disk and then copy it to another. 3.4 The drives cycle gadget You can connect up to 4 disk drives to the Amiga. BootX checks how many drives are connected to the Amiga and installs their device names in the list of this cycle gadget. Only the drives that are connected to the Amiga and are turned on (in case of external drives) will be reported by this gadget. To select a particular drive keep clicking on the gadget until its device name is shown. 3.5 Lock Drive Normally when you insert a disk in the disk-drive, the Amiga tries to see if the checksum of the disk is OK. When it is not, the Amiga tries to validate it. Pre-2.0 KickStarts needed to load and execute a program called Disk-Validator from the L directory to check and/or repair the checksum. When a disk-drive is 'locked', BootX will prevent AmigaDOS from validating your disk. This also means that Disk-Validator viruses have no chance of getting in. You can insert and remove disks as many times as you like. Also the automatic diskchange detect will be temporarily disabled. 3.6 Check files This gadget is a short-cut for the Check Files menu item. See later. 3.7 Show installable bootblocks BootX User's Manual 12 When you click on this gadget, BootX will display the contents of the current loaded bootblock library. You simply click on the name of the bootblock to select it as current bootblock. Either double-click on the name or click and select OK. This action only selects the bootblock ! It is not immediately written to the current disk nor is it put in the bootblock buffer. You can see the name of the current selected bootblock in the small window next to the gadget. If you do not want to make a change select the Cancel gadget of the requester. NOTE BootX already knows 4 bootblocks even when no bootblock library has been loaded. They are the standard AmigaDOS bootblocks for the several available FileSystems. Their names have a little dot added to them completely to the right side of the name. 3.8 Built-in bootblock name This window shows the name of the selected bootblock. 3.9 Install Here you can write the selected bootblock to the bootsectors of the disk in the current drive. At startup BootX looks for a file called "BootX.BBLib" in the directory from which BootX started. It contains several alternative bootblocks. It is possible to load another bootblock library using the "Load" menu item of the "BBLib" menu (see further). 3.10 Message window This window reports messages and errors resulting from the various operations. 3.11 Main display window Shows the bootblock that is currently in the buffer in semi-ASCII representation. Only the readable characters are shown. This allows you to check for readable text signifying the nature of the bootblock when BootX reports "Unknown bootblock". The main display window is also used for the output of several other BootX functions. BootX User's Manual 13 Chapter 4 The Project Menu 4.1 Load Recog file As of BootX v4.30 all the recognition information BootX needs to identify a virus or a bootblock is contained in a file called BootX.Recog. With this menu item you can load different BootX.Recog files than the one BootX loads at started called "BootX.Recog". BootX can remember the name of the Recog file and where it came from. After loading a Recog file from a different path or with a different filename simply save your preferences. When BootX starts the next time it will try to load the Recog file with that path and filename. NOTE The BootX.Recog files are coded and protected by a checksum to prevent anyone from modifying the information it contains with a file editor. Always try to get the latest version of the BootX.Recog file to get maximum protection. You can find out the version of a BootX.Recog file in several ways: 1. After BootX has successfully loaded a Recog file it will display the version and the release date of the file. 2. The BootX version and the Recog file version are always shown in the title bar of the screen. 3. Select the About menu item. The text will show the version and the release date of the Recog file and how many bootblocks, bootviruses and fileviruses it knows. NOTE These numbers may vary from the number reported by the "Show known xxx" menu items. The numbers reported here are the number of recog blocks that BootX can use to identify a virus. The "Show known xxx" menu items only report all the different names that BootX uses, f.e. BootX can recognize several different mutants of the same virus but the name will only show up once in the "Show known bootviruses" list. 3. Use the Workbench v2.x version command: 1> version BootX.Recog BootX User's Manual 14 4.2 Show known This submenu allows you to view the contents of the current loaded Recog file. Use the submenu items Bootblocks, Bootviruses or Fileviruses to view the list you want. BootX will then pop up a list requester. Use the scroll gadgets or the scroll bar to move through the list. The window title of the requester will tell you how many entries are being shown. NOTE The selection 'Show known fileviruses' also shows the linkviruses and trojan horses that BootX knows. Click on the window's close gadget to remove the requester. 4.3 Print known Here you can request BootX to print the contents of the current loaded Recog file to your printer. NOTE If you have to wait a long time (about 10 seconds) and nothing happens, please check that your printer is turned on and if so that it is on-line. BootX will not be able to report an error until the default time-out period is passed (usually 30 seconds) or until the user put the printer on-line. 4.4 Iconify Selecting Iconify causes BootX to close its screen and release as much memory as possible. BootX will then try to find its icon in the drawer from which it started and use it to create an AppIcon on the WorkBench. For more information about AppIcons I refer to the Amiga User Interface Style Guide. There are two ways to wake up BootX. You press the BootX hot key combination (default Ctrl Left-Alt B) or you wake BootX up via its AppIcon. The hot key combination can be changed via the menu item Preferences/Edit (see later). When iconified BootX waits for two kinds of events. If you double-click on the icon BootX reopens its screen and returns to the state as it was before you iconified it with all the information and preferences intact. Another way to wake up BootX is to select or shift-select one or more disk or drawer icons and drop them on the BootX AppIcon. BootX User's Manual 15 BootX will then wake up and present its Check Files Preference requester (see later). Set your preferences and when you click on the Check Files gadget BootX will present you with the path requester. BootX will have inserted the Volume name or the drawer name in the string gadget. You only have to click on OK or press return to start the file check with that path. If you drop a file icon on the AppIcon BootX will use that path of that file as its starting point for the file check. This way you can drop the icons you have 'left out' using the Leave Out menu item of the Workbench Icon menu on the BootX AppIcon. At present BootX uses no CPU time at all when it is in its iconified state. No checking of memory or of newly inserted disks is done. There is no need to continuously keep checking every disk that is inserted. Just check them once to make sure they are virus-free. NOTE If BootX can't find its icon it will use the default tool icon instead. You can create your own default tool icon using the Workbench 2.0 Icon Editor and save it using the 'Save As Default Icon' menu item. AppIcons are always positioned dynamically on the Workbench screen, that is, whereever there is room. You can not snapshot an AppIcon in a fixed place. 4.5 Help If BootX finds the AmigaGuide library it will use it to implement a powerfull hypertext help system. Selecting the Project/Help menu item brings up the main help screen. You can also press the Help key. 4.6 About Here you can find out some details about BootX, among them the version number, the Recog file version, the author of the language translation and my address. Always try to get the latest version available to have optimum virus protection. 4.7 Quit Guess what this one does... BootX User's Manual 16 Chapter 5 The Check Menu The Check menu concentrates all the possible checks that BootX has to offer. 5.1 Check blocks Some of the current viruses and possibly some to come alter or damage the blocks on the surface of your disks. When you ask BootX to check the blocks of the current drive it will scan the complete surface of the disk that is currently in the drive, looking for damaged or infected blocks. When BootX encounters an infected block it will tell you together with the name of the virus that infected that block. Most of the time the information that was in an infected block is lost but in some cases the block can be repaired and the information restored. Currently BootX can repair blocks that are infected by the Saddam disk-validator virus and by the Curse Of Little Sven virus. It will tell you when it finds blocks infected by the Lamer Exterminator virus. To use the block check simply select the menu item. Make sure there is no disk in the current drive. BootX will then lock the drive and ask you to insert the disk you wish to check. During the scan you'll get a progress report. You can leave your disk write-protected. BootX will then issue a warning and it will scan the disk without making any modifications. NOTE Be sure you insert your disk only after BootX asks for it. This is necessary security and to make sure BootX has a chance to recognize if your disk is a 880K or 1760K high-density disk. 5.2 Check memory BootX checks the memory at strategic times during its actions. With this memory action you can force BootX to recheck the memory. When it finds a virus you will be alert with an Amiga DisplayAlert and BootX will try to kill the virus in memory. It is possible that the Amiga crashes after BootX has found a virus. BootX will try to restore any changed information but sometimes this is not possible. Therefore the safest solution has been chosen of completely clearing the virus memory. BootX User's Manual 17 5.2 Check vectors The flexibility of the Amiga operating system lies in the fact the programmers have so many options of altering the way the Amiga does specific things. Regrettably virus programmers also know this and use various 'vectors', as the entry points are called, to add the virus code to the operating system. BootX can identify and kill virus if it knows it. But new viruses are being programmed every day. The vector check scans all the places in the Amiga memory that are the most likely candidates for virus attacks. During this scan it generate a vector check report. In this report is a lot of technical information. After the scan BootX displays the report in the main window. You can skip through the pages using the left mouse button. The right mouse button aborts at any time. At the end of the report BootX shows some information about your system. If you need more accurate information use one of the many dedicated tools. When BootX finds a vector which points to abnormal address it will try to identify the program that changed that vector. A lot of programs 'patch' the operating system to fix bugs or to add features. Commodore itself fixes small bugs this way using the SetPatch command. I will try to keep BootX's knowledge base as up to date as possible. A normal vector will be displayed in black with the message 'OK' next to it or the name of the program that changed that vector. If BootX can not decide what code uses the vector it will display the message 'Please check' in white next to the vector. This does not necessarily mean that the vector is used by a virus. Don't panic and contact a more experienced Amiga user (preferably a programmer). In case of doubt, save all your data and cold start the Amiga, that is, turn of the power and wait a few seconds before turning it on again. 5.4 Reset vectors Here you are given to option to clear the first five vectors that BootX shows in its vector check report. These vectors are used to have foreign code survive a software reset (using the Ctrl - Left Amiga - Right Amiga key combination). This is not a fail safe way to kill a virus. Also if any other software is using these vectors, it will not survive the next reset. Also, some virus defend themselves against such action and will not allow BootX to reset those vectors. 5.5 Check files BootX User's Manual 18 BootX was written in the days that bootviruses were the greatest if not only treat to the Amiga, hence the name BootX. Over the years this has changed. The biggest danger now comes from file and linkviruses. This menu option provides you with the most powerful tool in the Amiga world to fight and kill those viruses. After you select the Check files menu item or click on the Check files gadget BootX will present you with a Check Files Preferences requester. BootX gives you a lot of options to customize your file checks. To remove the requester without checking your files click on the window close gadget or the Cancel gadget. 5.5.1 Virus handling In the top left corner you will find a cycle gadget that gives the following options: Comment, Delete and Rename. It lets you decide what BootX should do when it encounters a file virus. The Comment option will let you add a filenote to the infected file telling you the name of the virus. For example "BGS-9 (TTV1) filevirus (detected by BootX)" tells you that this file contains the BGS-9 filevirus and that it was detected by BootX. You can see the filenote using most of the directory utilities of using the AmigaDOS 'List' command in the CLI or the Shell. The Delete option deletes the infected file. The Rename option renames the infected file to a name describing the virus. For example "002.BGS-9 virus" indicates that this file contains the BGS-9 virus and it was the 2nd virus found during this file check. 5.5.2 Remove linkviruses When this checkbox is checked, BootX will try to remove a linkvirus from an infected file. If the removal is successful the file can be used again without further danger. Be sure that enough memory is available during a file check as BootX needs to load the infected file completely into memory in order to repair it. Also there has to be enough disk spaces left. When the virus has been removed, you will find two files on your disk. One contains the original infected file. It will have a new name reflecting the kind of linkvirus that is attached to the file in the same way as the Rename option (see higher). The file will not be executable anymore so there is no danger you accidentally infect your memory. The virus code is still intact though so don't panic if another viruskiller reports there still is a virus on your disk. BootX User's Manual 19 The second file retains the original name and contains the cured program. NOTE Some of the older linkviruses and some of the new badly programmed linkviruses destroy the file in such a way that repair becomes impossible. BootX handles these cases gracefully and will tell you about it. 5.5.3 Handle viruses automatically Normally BootX works completely interactively and asks the user's permission every step of the way. When you check this option BootX makes all decisions by itself and handles all viruses automatically. This is very handy when you want to check that 400MB hard disk with 15000+ files on it. 5.5.4 Show directories/files/check files In the upper right hand corner you will find three options controlling the display during the file check. Check 'Show directories' if you want BootX to tell you when it enters a new directory. Check 'Show files' if you want BootX to show you the file it is currently checking. When this option is on BootX also tries to determine what kind of file it is looking at. Turn it off to reduce the time needed to check a path. Check 'Show checked files' if you want BootX to display only those files that it really is checking. 5.5.5 Check crunched executables BootX was the first viruskiller to offer you this powerful feature. When it is checked BootX will try to decrunch all crunched executables in memory and then check the decrunched version of the file for any file- or linkviruses. Currently BootX can decrunch the following crunchers: all PowerPacker versions all Imploder versions (except overlayed files) TNM Cruncher 1.1 MegaCruncher CrunchMania 1.x with Normal decruncher RetroPacker 1.0 The Explode.library v6.0 or higher is required if you wish to BootX User's Manual 20 decrunch Library Imploded files. If there is a cruncher you would BootX like to be able to decrunch, then send me some files that have been crunched with it together with the name of the cruncher and preferably the cruncher program itself too. I will continue to add new decrunch code in future versions of BootX. NOTE If BootX detects a linkvirus in a crunched file, obviously it can not remove the virus since the file is crunched. BootX will tell you to decrunch the file first and ask you if you would like in the mean time to handle the virus like a file virus, that is, to comment, delete or rename the file (see higher). 5.5.6 Skip read-protected Sometimes you want to protect certain files on your disks from reading by removing the read protection bit. When this option is selected, BootX will ignore all read protected files. This can be handy since BootX removes all protection bits from infected files except for the Archive and the Delete bit. NOTE This option is mutually exclusive with the 'Auto-remove read-protection' option 5.5.7 Auto-remove read-protection AmigaDOS 2.0 recognizes and honors the protection bits of a file. That means that if the read protection is on, programs including the Workbench and the Shell are not allowed to read that file. When BootX encounters such a file it will ask you if you want to remove the read protection of that file. If you answer Yes BootX preserves all other protection bits and removes the read protection. The file will then be rechecked. If you wish to restore the read protection afterwards, use the AmigaDOS command Protect like this: 1> protect <filename> -r which will give the file its read protection back. BootX User's Manual 21 NOTE This option is mutually exclusive with the 'Skip read protected' option. 5.5.8 Generate report Use this checkbox to turn on the BootX reporting feature. When checked BootX will generate a file check report containing all the information that was shown during the file check. Use this option when doing an unattended file check of large hard disks. The report will serve as a transcript of what happened during the file check. 5.5.9 Silent check When performing a file check in the background there is no need for BootX continuously displaying all the files it checks. This setting allows you to turn off this display while you can still have BootX make a file check report. 5.5.10 Filter To enable the path filter, check this checkbox gadget. See also section 6.1. 5.5.11 Examine directories This cycle gadget allows you to decide how BootX handles directories. 'All' is the most general option and will have BootX enter all directories it encounters as many levels deep as required. 'Interactively' will have BootX ask you permission to check a directory every time it encounters one. Check this option if you want to make a quick scan of the first level of a directory for example the root of a hard disk. 'None' will cause BootX to skip any directory it finds. 5.5.12 Checking files You can start the file check by clicking on the 'OK' gadget. BootX will pop up a path requester. This is kind of a stripped down version of a file requester allowing you to comfortably navigate your hard disk while looking for the path you wish to check. The current path will always be displayed in the string gadget. You can enter a path manually or you can use the parent and BootX User's Manual 22 directory buttons to look for the path. Enter an empty string in the string gadget or click on Cancel to call off the file check. For more information on how to use the path requester I refer to the ReqTools documentation. Double click on a directory entry or select the OK gadget to begin the file check. During the file check you can press the right mouse button to pause the file check. Press the left mouse button to stop the file check. After the file check BootX will report how many directories, files and crunched files it found. It will also tell you how many files were checked and how many viruses were found. If you asked BootX to generate a file check report you will be given to option to look at it, print it, save it or ignore it. More information about the print and save options can be found in the following sections. Viewing the file check report is the same as viewing a vector check report: click the left mouse button the show the next page, press the right mouse button to abort the viewing. NOTE BootX can remember the path you last checked. Simply save your preferences. When BootX starts the next time it will show that path as a default. 5.6 Show report As mentioned in the section about 'Check files' BootX is able to generate a file check report while it's looking for viruses. This menu item allows take another look at the last generated file check report. 5.7 Save report You can also save the last generated file check report to disk for further reference. After you select this option BootX pops up the ReqTools file requester (more information about this requester can be found in the ReqTools documentation). As a default it suggests the filename "LVCReport.doc" but you are free to use any name you like. The file check report is saved as a normal ASCII text file with some standard ANSI codes to enhance the output. Most recent document viewers such as PPMore can handle these ANSI codes. 5.8 Print report BootX User's Manual 23 You can print the last generated file check report from within BootX using this menu item. NOTE If you have to wait a long time (about 10 seconds) and nothing happens, please check that your printer is turned on and if so that it is on-line. BootX will not be able to report an error until the default time-out period is passed (usually 30 seconds) or until the user put the printer on-line. 5.9 Check disk When you select this menu item, BootX will put up a requester that allows you to specify which actions BootX should perform when performing a complete disk check. Check bootblock: checks the bootblock Check blocks : checks all the disk blocks Check files : checks all the files All these actions will be performed on the disk in the current drive. Select OK to begin with the disk check. Click on the window close gadget to cancel the disk check. BootX User's Manual 24 Chapter 6 The ToolBox Menu In this menu you will find some utilities that might come in handy during your work. 6.1 Filter The Filter utility allows you to create a filter of path names which BootX will ignore during a file check. The paths that are part of a filter typically contain only data files like documents, modules, IFF drawings, include files or other binary files. Programmers might want to put their Include and Fd directories in the filter. The Fonts directory is another good candidate. Make sure you have checked the Filter checkbox in the Check Files preference requester or the Filter will not be used during a file check. Don't forget to save your preferences after you have created or modified a filter. BootX stores the names of the paths to be filtered in the BootX.prefs file. NOTE The filter can be a mixed blessing. It will speed up file checks since entire directories will be skipped. However if you add a path to the filter that contains executables and one of the executables is infected by a virus it will not be found. Be carefull. 6.1.1 New Click this gadget to start a new filter. 6.1.2 Add When you click on the Add gadget BootX will present you with a directory requester. Walk through your directory tree until you are in the directory you wish to filter. Select OK when done. The newly selected path will show up in the Filter listview. If you have selected an entry from the Filter listview it will be used as starting point of your tree travels. 6.1.3 Edit This gadget can only be selected when you have clicked on one of the Filter listview entries. BootX will present you with a directory requester with the selected entry as starting point of your tree walk. This allows you to edit existing path filters. BootX User's Manual 25 6.1.4 Remove After you have selected an entry from the Filter listview, the Remove gadget will become enabled. Click on it to remove the current selected filter entry. 6.1.5 OK Select the OK gadget to finish editing the path filter. BootX User's Manual 26 Chapter 7 The Bootblocks Menu 7.1 Load/Save BootX can save the bootblock in the buffer as a file to any drive. 'Save' can be used to save the bootblocks of games, mega demos and other programs to a separate data disk. In case of a virus attack or a bad disk you can load the previously saved bootblock back in the buffer and write it back to the original disk. 'Load' will only allow you to load a file that contains a valid bootblock. It checks if it is an OldFileSystem or FastFileSystem bootblock and then recalculates the checksum of the bootblock. When the bootblock checksum is wrong, BootX will ask you if you want to repair it. If you select Yes, BootX repairs the bootblock checksum of the loaded copy. If the loading was succesful BootX will try to identify the bootblock. If the file you loaded did not contain a valid bootblock, BootX will tell you. 7.2 Learn This menu item is turned on when BootX does not recognize the bootblock in its buffer. The bootblock can either be read from disk (using the Read Bootblock gadget) or be loaded using the Bootblocks/Load menu item. If you want to teach an unrecognized bootblock to BootX use this menu item. BootX will pop up a list requester showing the contents of the current Brain file. Simply enter the name for the unknown bootblock in the string gadget under the list. If the name you entered already exists BootX will ask you if you'd like to use the name anyway. This practise is not encouraged. Try to make your names unique. It'll help you identify a bootblock much easier later on. After BootX has learned the bootblock it will display its name in the message window in white. This way you know that it is the Brain file that recognized the bootblock and not the Recog file. NOTE Only the Brain file can be updated by a user. The Recog files will be periodically released by me. The Recog file always takes precedence over the Brain file. That is, if you teach BootX a bootblock as "New Name" and some time later it is identified as "Some new virus" you know that I have added the bootblock to the Recog file. Please send me any bootblock that BootX does not recognize yet. This way the Recog file BootX User's Manual 27 will always be up to date. 7.3 Show again Use this menu item to refresh the display after it has been erased or been used by some other BootX function. BootX User's Manual 28 Chapter 8 The BBLib Menu When BootX is started it will look for a file called BootX.BBLib. This Bootblock library contains custom bootblocks that you can use instead of the standard OldFileSystem or FastFileSystem bootblocks. With the Bootblock library system you can create several different libraries that contain your collection games, demo or utility bootblocks. The libraries are much easier to maintain than several single files. If one of your autobooting game or demo disks get infected by a bootvirus, you can always use the copy you saved in your library to restore the disk. You can install any bootblock in the library by selecting it using the 'Show installable bootblock' gadget and then clicking on the 'Install' gadget. NOTE BootX can remember the name of the bootblock library and where it came from. After loading a BBLib file from a different path or with a different filename simply save your preferences. When BootX starts the next time it will try to load the BBLib file with that path and filename. 8.1 New When you select the BBLib/New menu item the current Bootblock library in memory (if any) will be cleared so that you can started a new one. NOTE BootX always adds six built-in bootblocks when you start a new BootBlock library. These bootblock are the standard OldFileSystem and the standard FastFileSystem bootblock (normal and international version) as they would be installed by the Install command from the C directory. These two bootblocks will not be saved with your Bootblock library. You can tell which bootblocks are built-in by the little dot that appears in the bootblock list. More bootblocks will be added when the need arises. 8.2 Load With the Load menu item you can load any Bootblock library. You could for instance have a separate bootblock library for game, BootX User's Manual 29 demo or utility bootblocks. 8.3 Save The Save menu item allows you to save the current Bootblock library. This menu item will only be turned on when the Bootblock library was actually changed. 8.4 Show You can take a look at the contents of the current Bootblock library by selecting the BBLib/Show menu item. BootX will pop up a list requester showing you the names of the bootblocks. 8.5 Merge You can share your Bootblock libraries with your friends. The Merge menu item allows you to merge the contents of a Bootblock library with the one in memory. BootX will scan the complete library, ignoring duplicates and adding any new bootblock not yet found in memory. 8.6 Add bootblock Use this menu item to add the bootblock currently in the bootblock buffer to the Bootblock library. BootX will pop up a list requester with a string gadget. Enter the name of the bootblock in the string gadget and click on OK (or press return). BootX checks to see if that name already exists and if it does it will ask you if you really want to add the bootblock. 8.7 Delete bootblock You can use this menu item to delete a bootblock from the Bootblock library. NOTE You can not delete a built-in bootblock. BootX will warn you if you try to do so. 8.8 Rename bootblock You can use this menu item to rename a bootblock in the Bootblock library. Select the one you'd like to rename by clicking on its name and then clicking on the OK gadget (or by double BootX User's Manual 30 clicking the name) BootX will then ask you to enter the new name of the bootblock. NOTE You can not rename a built-in bootblock. BootX will warn you if you try to do so. BootX User's Manual 31 Chapter 9 The Brain Menu At startup time BootX looks for a file called BootX.Brain. This Brainfile contains all the bootblocks you have taught BootX using the Bootblock/Learn menu item. This Brainfile complements the knowledge base of BootX by letting BootX recognize any new bootblock that are not yet recognized by the BootX.Recog file. NOTE If you find new bootblocks that BootX does not yet recognize please send them to me so that I can update the Recog file. BootX will always give precedence to the conclusion of the Recog file when it tries to recognize a bootblock. 9.1 New When you select the Brain/New menu item the current Brainfile in memory (if any) will be cleared so that you can started a new one. 9.2 Load With the Load menu item you can load any Brainfile. NOTE BootX can remember the name of the Brain file and where it came from. After loading a Brain file from a different path or with a different filename simply save your preferences. When BootX starts the next time it will try to load the Brain file with that path and filename. 9.3 Save The Save menu item allows you to save the current Brainfile. This menu item will only be turned on when the Brainfile has been changed during the run of the program. 9.4 Show You can take a look at the contents of the current Brainfile by selecting the Brain/Show menu item. BootX will pop up a list requester showing you the names of the bootblocks BootX recognizes in addition to the Recog file. BootX User's Manual 32 9.5 Merge You can share your Brainfiles with your friends. The Merge menu item allows you to merge the contents of a Brainfile with the one in memory. BootX will scan the complete Brainfile, ignoring duplicates and adding any new bootblock not yet found in memory. 9.6 Delete Brain cell You can use this menu item to delete a bootblock from the current Brainfile. 8.8 Rename Brain cell You can use this menu item to rename a bootblock in the current Brainfile. Select the one you'd like to rename by clicking on its name and then clicking on the OK gadget (or by double clicking the name) BootX will then ask you to enter the new name of the bootblock. BootX User's Manual 33 Chapter 10 The Preferences Menu 10.1 Edit... Use Preferences/Edit to change some settings of BootX. As of version 5.10 all your settings are being kept in a file called 'BootX.prefs' which can be found in the directory 'BootX' of device ENV: and ENVARC:. The file is a plain ASCII file which can be read using any text reader or modified using any text editor. Be carefull though because the parsing routines are not very smart and presume a couple of things. It is better to change your settings using BootX and to save them. 10.1.1 Virus alarm BootX can grab your attention when it finds a virus by using one of the following three possibilities: (1) None: BootX will remain silent when it finds a virus. (2) System beep: BootX will DisplayBeep the BootX screen. If you have installed a sample using the Sound preferences editor this is what you'll hear. Otherwise the colors of the BootX screen will be flashed. (3) Play sample: BootX will play the sample found in the file BootX.Alarm. This file is loaded at startup time (when found). The file must use the IFF 8SVX file format. Most if not all sample creating programs support this file format. 10.1.2 Save icons Check this setting if you'd like BootX to create an icon for any of the files it saves. 10.1.3 Detect diskchange If this option is turned on, BootX will know when you insert a disk in any of the available disk drives. That drive will be made current and BootX will try to read the bootblock of the disk you just inserted. To make BootX read a bootblock of a disk when this setting is turned off, make the drive current that contains the disk you'd like to check and click on the Read Bootblock gadget. 10.1.4 Check disk-validator The disk-validator used to be a part of AmigaDOS 1.2/1.3 that could be found as a file called Disk-Validator in the L drawer of BootX User's Manual 34 a boot disk. There are some viruses that make use of the feature to infect your computer and disks. The disk-validator would be loaded automatically when AmigaDOS detected a non validated disk. The disk-validator would then be put to work to repair the disk. When this option is turned on BootX will check if such a file exists on your disk after it has tested the bootblock. BootX will check if it has been infected before a possible virus gets a chance to get in your system. BootX does this by not using AmigaDOS but directly manipulating the disk. To have the most benefit of this feature, also use the Lock Drive gadget. Read also section 11.1 "How to kill disk-validator viruses...". NOTE KickStart 2.0 does not need the disk-validator any more since the repair code has been built in. This also means that Amigas running KickStart 2.0 or later can not be infected by inserting a disk that contains one of those 'disk-validator viruses'. 10.1.5 Crunch BootX crunch the Bootblock library and the Brain file before saving them. It uses the powerpacker.library (© Nico François) to crunch the files. The 'Never' setting will never crunch any files. The 'Ask' setting will cause BootX to ask you every time you save the Bootblock library or the Brain file if you'd like BootX to crunch them. The 'Always' setting will ask no questions and will always crunch before saving. NOTE Sometimes BootX will not be able to crunch your files. BootX will typically report this as a buffer overflow. This is because your data files have to much entropy. This is neither a bug in BootX nor a bug in the powerpacker.library. In this case you will have to turn off crunching and save the file uncrunched. 10.1.6 Iconify at startup BootX User's Manual 35 When this setting is on (checked) BootX will start running in an iconified state. For more details read section 4.4. 10.1.7 Check memory at startup If this setting is checked BootX will check the memory of the Amiga for viruses every time it gets started or after it returns from an iconified state. It is a good idea to have this setting turned on. You can always force BootX to recheck your memory using the Check/Check memory menu item. 10.8 Check vectors at startup This option works the same as the 'Check memory at startup' option. Turn it on if you'd like BootX perform a complete vector check every time you start BootX. NOTE In order to let you read any error message that are shown at startup time (for example if something goes wrong when trying to load the Recog file) BootX will look at your settings right before starting the vector check. If you have turned on the 'Pause after page' setting (see further), BootX will ask you to click the left mouse button before it shows you the vector check report. 10.9 Pause after page Turning this setting on causes BootX to pause the screen output every time a full screen page has been shown. See also the note in section 10.8. 10.10 Wrap words Sometimes the output of BootX is longer than will fit in the window. With this option you control wether BootX cuts off the output or wraps the remaining part on the next line. 10.11 Display Mode BootX can use any screen mode that the Monitors database offers to you. If you click this gadget BootX will put up the ReqTools display requester allowing you to choose which screen mode will be used. BootX User's Manual 36 If you select a new display mode your choice will become active immediately. 10.12 Palette Clicking this gadget makes BootX put up the ReqTools palette requester. You can use it to customize the BootX screen colors. 10.2 Load/Save Use these menu items to load or save the current settings from or to the BootX.prefs file. After a succesfull load BootX will close and reopen its screen even if you did not change the display settings. BootX User's Manual 37 Chapter 11 Hints tips and tricks 11.1 How to kill disk-validator viruses... First make sure that your memory is clear of any virus. You can do this by turning of your Amiga for a few seconds and then booting from a NON-INFECTED disk. Always make sure all the disks you insert are WRITE-PROTECTED unless it contains a disk-validator virus you want to kill. Start BootX and lock the current drive by clicking on the Lock gadget next to the drive cycle gadgets. This prevents AmigaDOS and the Workbench from accessing the disks you are about to insert. Insert the infected disk into the current drive and click on the Read gadget. BootX now reads the bootblock and checks the file called 'disk-validator'. This file can be found in the L drawer of the disk. If BootX does not check the disk-validator, make sure that the 'Check Disk-Validator' checkbox is checked in the Preferences requester. When BootX finds a disk-validator virus, it will ask you if it should kill the virus. If you select Yes, BootX destroys the complete virus code and makes a harmless executable program of it that does nothing than set the dos error code to -1. Next you are given the advice to repair the disk using the 'Check blocks' menu item. As a last step you need to copy an UNINFECTED disk-validator file into the L drawer of the repaired disk. This step could not be automated because the Disk-Validator file is copyrighted by Commodore Amiga. 11.2 Using BootX with little memory BootX has become quite a large program over the years and together with its support files it can occupy over 200K of RAM. Don't generate a file check report when checking your hard disk. The file check report for hard disks with 5000+ files can grow easily larger than 200K. Clear the Brain and BBLib files using the 'BBLib New' and 'Brain New' menu items respectively. Delete or rename the file 'BootX.Alarm'. It contains the sample BootX uses to alert the user if it finds a virus. Use the System Beep option of the Preference requester instead. Use the lowest possible screen mode the Display Mode requester has to offer. Specify the screen dimension as low as possible. BootX User's Manual 38 11.3 Copying bootblocks with one drive Turn off the Detect Diskchange setting in the Preference requester. Insert your disk in the disk drive. Click on the Read Bootblock gadget. The bootblock will now be read into the BootX buffer and will be shown in the main window. Remove the disk from your disk drive and insert the disk you want the bootblock copied to. Click on the Write Bootblock gadget. BootX will now write its buffer to the newly inserted disk. BootX User's Manual 39 Appendix A Glossary A Agnus Amiga custom chip. Takes care of the memory management and the DMA and coprocessor usage. Amiga Spanish: female friend AmigaDOS The disk operating system (DOS) used by Amiga computers. ANSI American National Standards Institute. A set of codes to perform special functions like printing text in bold. appicon An icon on the Workbench that allows the user to pass arguments to an application. BootX puts an AppIcon on the Workbench when you select the Project/Iconify menu item. application gadget A graphics image that appears within a program which can be manipulated with the mouse to perform a certain function. ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The code set that the Amiga usage to represent letter and figures. assembler A programming language attributes A series of flags stored with every file. Attributes indicate file type and control the file operations (read, write, delete, etc.) Also protection bits. B BBLib See bootblock library. boot The startup process for a computer. It comes from the expression "pulling yourself up by the bootstraps." bootblock Part of a disk or hard disk that is read first by the Amiga to initialize or recognize the disk. Usually contains a small program (disks) or parameters (hard disk). bootblock library A custom file of BootX that contain several bootblocks that the user can install on his disks. BootX User's Manual 40 bootvirus Virus that hides in the bootblock of a disk. Only gets activated when you boot from the infected disk. Brain file Supplementary recognition information that the user has taught BootX using the Bootblocks/Learn menu item. bug A mistake in a program C check box A gadget used to let a user turn an option on or off. When a check mark appears in the box, the selection is considered to be "on." Chip RAM The area of RAM accessible to the Amiga's custom chip set used for graphics and sound data. CLI (Command Line Interface) A means of communicating with the Amiga by issuing commands from the keyboard. click To press and release a mouse button close gadget A system gadget used to close windows. It appears in the upper left corner of the window. cold reboot To reset the Amiga by turning the power off, waiting 20 seconds, and then turning it on again. CPU Central Processing Unit. The micro processor that executes the instruction that make up a program. The Amiga either has a MC68000, MC68020, MC68030 or MC68040 CPU. Crunch Transforming data in such a way that the result uses less memory or disk space. BootX optionally uses the PowerPacker library to crunch or decrunch the data it uses. current drive The drive that will be used by default for any BootX operation unless the user specifies another. cycle gadget An application gadget that allows the user to select one of several options. One option is displayed at a time and, as the gadget is selected, the other options become visible. The displayed option is the selected option. BootX User's Manual 41 D default Initial setting, what will be used if nothing else is supplied. delete To erase or discard a file, buffer, or other stored item. device A physical mechanism, such as a disk drive, used as a source or destination for information directory A subdivision in a computer's filing system. Directories are represented on the Workbench as drawer icons. disk A medium for storage of computer data. disk-validator An extension of the pre-2.0 AmigaDOS. It was loaded from disk whenever the user inserted a bad or corrupted disk. The disk-validator tried to repair the disk. double-click To press and release the mouse's selection button twice. drawer See 'directory' drive name The name assigned to a floppy disk drive or hard disk such as Work:, WB2.x: or DF0:. It is the same as the device name. E executable A type of file that contains program instructions that the Amiga can use the execute a program. Executables are the prime target for linkviruses. F FastFileSystem (FFS) An enhanced Amiga file system usable with both floppy and hard disks. A volume is formatted as either FFS or OldFileSystem (OFS). The advantages of FFS are increased storage capacity and faster access of files. Fast RAM General memory used by programs and data, as opposed to Chip RAM. file A collection of data BootX User's Manual 42 filename The name by which a program or a data file is known to the Amiga when you want to access it on disk or hard disk. FPU Floating Point Unit. Special purpose micro processor to speed up calculations using real numbers. The FPU's available for the Amiga are called MC68881 and MC68882. Freeware In contrast with true public domain the author keeps a copyright on his product. Any further right that come with it are wavered. Freeware software may be copied as long as no copying fee is charged. G gadget Any graphics image that can be found in a window or on a screen that can be manipulated with the mouse to perform a certain function. graphics memory See Chip RAM GUI Graphical User Interface H hot key A special key or key combination that triggers a certain action. BootX uses a hot key to uniconify or to bring its screen to the front. I icon An image appearing on the screen to represent a disk, drawer, project or tool. Icons can be moved and selected with the mouse to allow you to work with the items they represent. IFF 8SVX A file format following the Interchange File Format (IFF) specifications. It's purpose is to allow easy interchange of 8 bit sound samples. K K Kilobyte. 1024 bytes. KickStart Software that is read from disk and used to boot the Amiga. Also BootX User's Manual 43 refers to the portion of the OS that is in ROM. BootX requires at least version 2.04 of the KickStart. L Locale.library A library available with Workbench 2.1 that allows programmers to write language independant programs. library A related set of functions that can be shared by various programs. BootX uses for example the PowerPacker.library to load and save crunched data. linkvirus A virus that spreads itself by linking its own code to other programs. When you run an infected program the virus hides itself in memory before allowing the program to execute. There it waits to infect other programs. M MB Megabyte. 1,048,576 bytes MMU Memory Management Unit. Special purpose micro processor that can efficiently control the memory of the Amiga. The MMU available for the Amiga is the MC68851. menu A list of on-screen options, displayed by using the menu button, from which users can choose commands that control a program. menu button The right mouse button menu item An option that appears in a menu multitasking Ability of the operating system to run multiple programs at the same time. O OldFileSystem (OFS) The file system used by pre-2.0 AmigaDOS. P parallel A parallel port can transmit or receive 8 bits at a time where as a serial port can only transmit 1 bit at a time BootX User's Manual 44 path The series of device, directory and subdirectory names that defines the location of a file. Paula Amiga custom chip. Takes care of the sound production, the diskcontroller and the serial port. PowerPacker.library A shared library written by Nico François. It allows BootX to read and write crunched files using the PowerPacker crunching algorythm. processor See CPU protection bits See attributes public domain Software that carries no copyright at all. Public domain software can be copied and used without restrictions. Often misused term for Freeware or Shareware R RAM Random Access Memory. Part of the Amiga's internal memory that can be used for data storage and is directly accessible by the CPU. Data in RAM is lost when the Amiga is rebooted or powered off. Ranger memory Part of the internal memory that gets added to the system at reset time. It can not be used for graphics nor for DMA access. Internal A500 memory expansion is usually Ranger memory. read only If a disk status or a file attribute is Read Only, the user can only look at the contents of the disk or the file without modifying it. reboot To reset the Amiga by pressing the keys Ctrl, Left-Amiga and Right-Amiga simultaneously. Also called a warm boot. Recog file The file that contains all the information that BootX needs to recognize and kill boot- and linkviruses. ReqTools.library A shared library written by Nico François. It has special functions to create the several kinds of requesters that BootX uses. requester BootX User's Manual 45 A window that allows the user to control options, access files or confirm actions. resmodule Resident module. Part of the Amiga's extendable open-ended operating system. ROM Read Only Memory. Acts theoreticaly the same as RAM but can only be read. Usually contains the main part of the operating system. root directory The main directory of a volume. All other directories are created in the root. The word comes from the analogy between the structure of the file system and the shape of a tree. S SCSI Small Computer System Interface. A standard interface protocol for connecting peripherals, usually mass storage devices like hard disks, to computers. selection button The left mouse button. subdirectory A directory within another directory T Tool Types A method for passing arguments from the Workbench to a program. BootX uses the tool types to store the user preferences. V vector A memory address used by the operating system to access parts and functions of the libraries and devices. Most viruses change one or more viruses to modify the behaviour of the Amiga. volume A floppy disk or a hard disk partition volume name The name given to a disk or partition W Workbench The Amiga's icon-base GUI. write-enable To allow information to be written onto a disk. write-protect BootX User's Manual 46 To prevent information from being written onto a disk. Table Of Contents BootX User's Manual Chapter 1 Introducing BootX .................... 4 1.1 System requirements .................... 4 1.2 About the author and the program ........... 4 1.3 Gettings updates ....................... 5 1.4 Before you complain... .................. 5 1.5 Acknowledgments ....................... 6 Chapter 2 Getting Started ...................... 8 2.1 Installing BootX on hard disk ............. 8 2.2 Starting BootX ......................... 9 2.2.1 Starting BootX from the CLI .......... 9 2.2.1 Starting BootX from the Workbench .... 9 2.3 Understanding the language support .... 9 Chapter 3 The BootX screen ...................... 10 3.1 Quit .................................. 10 3.2 Read Bootblock ......................... 10 3.3 Write Bootblock ........................ 11 3.4 The drives cycle gadget .................. 11 3.5 Lock Drive ............................. 11 3.6 Check files ............................ 11 3.7 Show installable bootblocks ............. 11 3.8 Built-in bootblock name ................. 12 3.9 Install ............................... 12 3.10 Message window ........................ 12 3.11 Main display window .................... 12 Chapter 4 The Project Menu ...................... 13 4.1 Load Recog file ......................... 13 4.2 Show known ............................. 13 4.3 Print known ............................ 14 4.4 Iconify ............................... 14 4.5 Help .................................. 15 4.6 About ................................. 15 4.7 Quit .................................. 15 Chapter 5 The Check Menu ........................ 16 5.1 Check blocks ........................... 16 5.2 Check memory ........................... 16 5.2 Check vectors .......................... 17 5.4 Reset vectors .......................... 17 5.5 Check files ............................ 17 5.5.1 Virus handling .................... 18 5.5.2 Remove linkviruses ................ 18 5.5.3 Handle viruses automatically ....... 19 5.5.4 Show directories/files/check files . 19 5.5.5 Check crunched executables ......... 19 5.5.6 Skip read-protected ............... 20 5.5.7 Auto-remove read-protection ....... 20 5.5.8 Generate report ................... 21 5.5.9 Silent check ...................... 21 5.5.10 Filter .......................... 21 5.5.11 Examine directories .............. 21 5.5.12 Checking files ................... 21 5.6 Show report ............................ 22 5.7 Save report ............................ 22 5.8 Print report ........................... 22 5.9 Check disk ............................. 23 Chapter 6 The ToolBox Menu ...................... 24 6.1 Filter ................................ 24 6.1.1 New .............................. 24 6.1.2 Add .............................. 24 6.1.3 Edit ............................. 24 6.1.4 Remove ........................... 25 6.1.5 OK ............................... 25 Chapter 7 The Bootblocks Menu ................... 26 7.1 Load/Save ............................. 26 7.2 Learn ................................. 26 7.3 Show again ............................. 27 Chapter 8 The BBLib Menu ........................ 28 8.1 New ................................... 28 8.2 Load .................................. 28 8.3 Save .................................. 29 8.4 Show .................................. 29 8.5 Merge ................................. 29 8.6 Add bootblock .......................... 29 8.7 Delete bootblock ....................... 29 8.8 Rename bootblock ....................... 29 Chapter 9 The Brain Menu ........................ 31 9.1 New ................................... 31 9.2 Load .................................. 31 9.3 Save .................................. 31 9.4 Show .................................. 31 9.5 Merge ................................. 32 9.6 Delete Brain cell ....................... 32 8.8 Rename Brain cell ....................... 32 Chapter 10 The Preferences Menu ................. 33 10.1 Edit... .............................. 33 10.1.1 Virus alarm ...................... 33 10.1.2 Save icons ....................... 33 10.1.3 Detect diskchange ................ 33 10.1.4 Check disk-validator ............. 33 10.1.5 Crunch .......................... 34 10.1.6 Iconify at startup ................ 34 10.1.7 Check memory at startup ............ 35 10.8 Check vectors at startup ............. 35 10.9 Pause after page .................... 35 10.10 Wrap words ........................ 35 10.11 Display Mode ...................... 35 10.12 Palette .......................... 36 10.2 Load/Save ............................ 36 Chapter 11 Hints tips and tricks ................. 37 11.1 How to kill disk-validator viruses... .... 37 11.2 Using BootX with little memory ........... 37 11.3 Copying bootblocks with one drive ........ 38 Appendix A Glossary ........................... 39 © 1993 BootX v5.23b written by Peter Stuer _ _ // Thanks to \X/ Amiga for being the best computer ever !