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Text File | 1995-03-02 | 20.1 KB | 406 lines

███╗ ██╗ █████╗ ██████╗ ████╗ ██║ ██╔══██╗ ██╔════╝ ██╔██╗ ██║ ███████║ ██║ ███╗ █████╗ ██║╚██╗██║ ██╔══██║ ██║ ██║ ╚════╝ ██║ ╚████║ ██║ ██║ ╚██████╔╝ ╚═╝ ╚═══╝ ╚═╝ ╚═╝ ╚═════╝ ██████╗ ██╗ ██╗ ███████╗ ████████╗ ███████╗ ██████╗ ██╔══██╗ ██║ ██║ ██╔════╝ ╚══██╔══╝ ██╔════╝ ██╔══██╗ ██████╔╝ ██║ ██║ ███████╗ ██║ █████╗ ██████╔╝ ██╔══██╗ ██║ ██║ ╚════██║ ██║ ██╔══╝ ██╔══██╗ ██████╔╝ ╚██████╔╝ ███████║ ██║ ███████╗ ██║ ██║ ╚═════╝ ╚═════╝ ╚══════╝ ╚═╝ ╚══════╝ ╚═╝ ╚═╝ ╥ ┬ ╥──┐ ╥──┐ ╓─┐ ─╥─ ╓──┐ ╓──┐ ─╖ ───┐ ─╖ ╙╖┌┘ ╟─ ╟─┬┘ ╙─┐ ║ ║ │ ║ │ ║ ╓──┘ ╓──╢ ╙┘ ╨──┘ ╨ ┴ ╙──┘ ─╨─ ╙──┘ ╨ ┴ ─╨─ o ╙─── ╙──╨ ~NAG-BUSTER~ is Copyright (c) 1992-1995 Erik Famm. Programming and documentation by Erik Famm. Introduction ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ~What's the purpose of NAG-BUSTER?~ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── NAG-BUSTER is a utility that removes those 'naggy' windows that tend to pop up at program entry, randomly or during program exit. These windows contain information and requests that should have been placed in a readable file included in the package rather than inside the program. By removing them, you will be able to evaluate a program more or less identical to the program you will receive after you have paid for it. Normally, all naggy windows are subject to great irritation rather than information, and the user will not even _try_ the program because of this, and this effect is not satisfactory for either the programmer nor the user. Some programs contain delays connected to these windows in which the user sometimes has to wait for up to 90 seconds before the program continues running. Other programs contain hidden 'bombs' that is able to crash a machine if the code has been altered in any way. NAG-BUSTER enters your program files and patches them in order to remove (or bypass) the nags on a permanen basis. (See details on how NAG-BUSTER works and how it is to be used below). ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ~What's a NAG?~ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── A 'nag' on PCs is a window that contains a message from the author, often with a timed delay, begging you to pay for the program if you intend to use it on a regular basis. The registered version will not contain such a nag. The nag screens (there may be several) often pop up at program start or exit and occasionally at one point in the program. However, nags are not the contents of for instance a Windows About Box. Such boxes appear on user requests and has no effect on the program running. Nor are nags a one-line message in a command line program that informs the user that registration is this and that. Alas, nags annoy and disturb the user and hinder normal program execution. Nags serve two purposes: 1) To remind the user to pay. 2) To annoy the user (so he will pay). I think that you have the right to a trial version that is identical to the program you are supposed to pay for. I also think that purpose 1) above is obvious to most users - he will know that the intention of shareware is 'try before you pay' otherwise the program doesn't follow the shareware concept. Purpose 2) is unlikely to work. A query made by me, states that users of shareware programs with heavy nags often throw them away instantly. They will not even bother to try them out. I think this is a rather unfortunate consequense for the programmer. I have read a statement issued by the ASP Ombudsman (ASP = Association of Shareware Professionals), signed by the ASP Executive Director. He places the shareware concept side by side with test driving a car. My question to him is: Would YOU buy the car you test drove for 30 days without tyres??? Or perhaps you were lucky and test drove a nicer "shareware" car with only one drawback - no steering wheel? Is this try before pay? I think not. For those who are interested, I have enclosed the full ASP statement in a readable file, SHARWARE.TXT, in exactly the same condition that I found it in a shareware package. NOTE: The ASP statement does not imply that I am a member of ASP! I'm NOT! ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ~What's wrong with 'naggy' programs?~ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── A shareware program in its unregistered form with all windows popping up telling you to pay as soon as possible, or with limited functionality, is not identical to the program you are to pay for later, so the 'try before you pay' concept isn't true for such programs. The registered version has none of these windows, delays, checksums or limits, hence the user will pay for a completely different program than he evaluated - which is not right, and gives me the legal right to inform you how to alter that program to emulate the registered one. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ~Ordering/payment~ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── NAG-BUSTER is neither shareware nor public domain, but those who intend to use it must order the complete version and pay for the using my program. NAG-BUSTER doesn't contain a lot of annoying windows, begging screens, delays and other forms of crippled procedures to annoy the user. That's one of the reasons that NAG-BUSTER isn't a shareware program. In fact, the only implemented feature that will show that this is a demo version is the menu choice [Ordering] which is only implemented so that you won't have to fill in a form manually. Besides, the form will hopefully be correct when I receive it. Those who feel that upgrades (including lots of new patches) are of interest, may pay the amount of $ 45,- (United States) NOK ~260~,- (Norway) DM 60,- (Germany) £ 25,- (Great Britain) SEK 280,- (Sweden) DKK 250,- (Denmark) Shipping and handling are included. You may *not* pay by check, due to high fees in Norwegian banks(!) (i.e. if you sent me a check, I would have to pay a fee of approx. $30 to cash it!). You may pay by international postal money order or using one of the following credit cards: Access, Visa, Eurocard, MasterCard, or American Express. If you don't own a credit card, then credit Erik Famm's bank account directly. Use the following address and bank account: Bank Name : DnB (Den Norske Bank) Bank Address : Stranden 21 Box 1171 Sentrum N-0250 OSLO, Norway Name : ~Erik Famm~ Address : ~Hertzbergsgt. 7 A~ ~N-0360 OSLO, Norway~ Bank Account : ~7112.11.26952~ I would prefer a postal money order of NOK ~260~,-. Again - checks are NOT accepted. Remember to fill in the order form found in the Main menu in NAG-BUSTER. You may NOT "pay" by sending me shareware programs with nags! (as you could before...) ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I permitted users to "pay" by sending me programs with nags - not listed in NAG-BUSTER. The result was that a lot of people sent me the same programs, or they downloaded an old NAG-BUSTER program, such as 0.66 and sent me programs that were already supported in newer versions. I addition, some people obviously has a strange opinion on what's a good program and what's not. I've received a number of disks with completely useless programs, programs without nags(!), duplicates on several disks, disks with bad tracks or bad .ZIPs. Besides, I had expenses when returning the commercial NAG-BUSTER disks. And finally, only a very small amount of people paid at all for NAG-BUSTER. 80 per cent of you sent me disks. If you study the newer versions of NAG-BUSTER, you can find out how many of your programs that have been supported by NAG-BUSTER. Don't be surprised. I received 25 programs from a user where none of the 25 reached normal standards or weren't already patched in a newer NAG-BUSTER version. Therefore, I have decided that this method of payment must die. You may now send me disks in *addition* to the payment (I cannot return them, however). ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ~If you enclose disks for implementation in NAG-BUSTER~ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── If you send me programs that are compressed, please enclose the decompressor for these programs. I may not have this program, or may not be updated with the correct version! When you send me programs, please let me know which programs are for DOS and which programs are for Windows and what the patch is to remove/bypass (if this is not very obvious). This saves me from a lot of work! Remember also to find out what NAG-BUSTER version that is the current. If you send me programs that are not listed in version 0.66 they may be listed in version 0.74! I prefer 3.5 inch disks. You may send tapes compatible with the Colorado 120 Jumbo (not the 250!) - QIC-40 (If you pay for NAG-BUSTER, I will return the tape along with the commercial NAG-BUSTER disk). Remember: Only send me programs not listed in the latest NAG-BUSTER version! (New NAG-BUSTER versions will probably be sent out each three months). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ~IMPORTANT~ * * I'm not interested in games, command line programs and shareware * * upgrades from for instance 2.10 to 2.11, and all programs must * * be english versions. .ZIP-files with a filesize of less than 30K * * will automatically be rejected and not even looked into. Nor * * may you send me duplicates, programs already listed in NAG- * * BUSTER or .PRG files for DBASE and so on. These programs will * * not be patched. You may not send me duplicates, two versions * * of the same program, or programs that are already supported by * * your NAG-BUSTER version. All programs should have atleast one * * .EXE or .COM file of a reasonable standard. You must enclose a * * paper or text-file explaining what the programs do, what I * * should patch, how I can simulate the problem and what * * environment the programs are written for (DOS or Windows). At * * present, only DOS and Windows programs are wanted. * *───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────* * If these simple rules aren't followed, you will not receive a * * commercial version of the latest NAG-BUSTER edition or an * * upgrade! I'm sorry about this strictness, but it is * * unfortunately nescessary to emphasize this. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The first upgrade will be sent you for free as you order. After that, you download further upgrades from a BBS near you, fill in the order form, send it to me and pay US$15 or the equivalent in your local currency. You will receive a key code as soon as possible. As you probably understand, upgrades are not and cannot be free! The commercial version will have your name on the main screen of NAG-BUSTER and the [Ordering] menu choice will disappear. When you have ordered and paid for NAG-BUSTER, you may of course send me more programs to be patched in order to improve NAG-BUSTER and to give you the patches you need. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ~Legal matters~ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── NAG-BUSTER is intended solely for the use of legitimate owners or licensees of shareware programs or for those who intend to buy the shareware program after a trial period and is NOT intended for any use that would deprive any software publisher of his rightful income. The patched files that NAG-BUSTER create may NOT be sold, rented out, given away, or uploaded to computer bulletin board services (BBS's). The created programs are intended for your testing only and should only be used until you register them. You may not modify NAG-BUSTER in any way. You may not reverse engineer the program by decompiling, disassembling or decrypting the program. NAG-BUSTER is provided for the purpose of allowing you to evaluate shareware programs as they will appear when you buy them. You are granted the right, and encouraged, to distribute demo versions of NAG-BUSTER to others who may find it of interest, and to upload it to computer bulletin board service (BBS's). NOTE: No warranty of any kind, whether expressed or implied, is attached to NAG-BUSTER, including any claim of merchantability or suitability of NAG-BUSTER for any specific purpose. No warranty shall extend to any right to claim any damages from Erik Famm, including but not limited to loss of profit, data, or use of the software, or any consequential or incidental damages. You use NAG-BUSTER entirely at your risk. Users from countries other than Norway must comply with the laws of their respective countries and must not use this program if the actions taken by it is against the law. If they are, then bear in mind that it is you, the user of NAG-BUSTER, and not me who are responsible. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ~Pay for Shareware!~ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I respect the shareware concept - try before you pay - and pay less than you do for commercial programs. I recommend that you pay for all shareware programs that you intend to use on a regular basis after a trial period. NAG-BUSTER is only supposed to give you a feeling of how the real version works. If you do not intend to buy these programs, NAG-BUSTER is not for you. To keep up with shareware traditions, the authors deserve to be paid the often symbolic sums of money for their products. A lot of work and effort has often been put into the development of shareware programs. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ~Using NAG-BUSTER~ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── When the main menu appears use your arrow keys or mouse to move the highlight bar to any option and press the ENTER-key (or left mouse button) to select it. Selecting DOS or Windows programs gives you another menu, in which you can select a program for patching. Then you will be prompted for the path and the patch will start. It's possible to stop anywhere and you will be asked if you wish to continue. If the patch is unsuccessful, you will be informed why. TIP: All patches are made for one unique version of a program. There is no point in running a patch on a different version than the version number listed in the DOS/Windows-menus. This won't work. If you read ahead, you'll figure out why. For speed and elegance, NAG-BUSTER does not search through an entire .EXE file for the specific bytes to change. Instead it jumps directly to pre-set offsets and looks at the bytes there. If they differ from the pre-set bytes in NAG-BUSTER, the program cannot patch your .EXE file. This means that your .EXE file is not identical to the .EXE file that I used to test the patch. It has to be! If it is not identical, then your version may be different or patched already by yourself or others and need not be patched again. Your program may be compressed. NAG-BUSTER will automatically try to decompress your program if it is compressed. NAG-BUSTER still needs the correct filesize to ensure that you have the correct version, so if the result of the compression of your program is a wrong file- size - that's too bad! A window will pop up telling you this and what actions you take from there. In the DOS/Windows menus, you will now see that I have extended the menus with information of what compression program that (is likely to have) compressed your program and a column showing what the patch does. Due to the lack of space, I chose to abbreviate some of the compression program names: TINYP. = TINYPROG. EXEP. = EXEPACK COMP. = COMPACK. The two latter are often found in parentheses, which means that NAG-BUSTER do not have to decompress these programs in order to patch them. N/A means not applicable, i.e. an unknown compression method was used (but the programs need not be uncompressed in order to be patched successfully). To the far right of the menus you will find a brief explanation of what each patch will do. If you encounter difficulties in decompressing programs with NAG-BUSTER (due to lack of memory), try to decompress your program manually by running the COMPBUST-program from DOS. Then re-enter NAG-BUSTER and start the patch routine again. None of the Windows programs from the Windows menu are compressed. If a patch runs successfully, you will get a message and NAG-BUSTER will create (if not found), or append to a log file information on the details of the patch routine for the program you chose to patch. NAG-BUSTER removes protection by searching the program files for the data that need to be changed, and then making those changes with little or no intervention from you. Once the nags are removed, you need not use NAG-BUSTER again on that particular program. New versions of NAG-BUSTER will probably be distributed about twice a year, depending on the response from the users and the amount of new programs that need patching. And that's all there is to it! Remember that the altered files created by NAG-BUSTER are for your own use only and may not be given away or distributed to another person in any form! ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ~Keep in touch!~ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Please feel free to contact me at my address mentioned above. Or you may upload a message to author Erik Famm at ~Mike's BBS phone no. +47-22-337320~ (Enter the POST-conference and enter a message with the 'E' command). The board is open around the clock and supports all standards up to V.34 (including HST). Your opinion is always welcome. I will try to answer all *written* questions and suggestions if you enclose a US$5 note for may postal and stationary expences. I cannot handle phone calls. Use mail or BBS!