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CLEANOUT Selective File Deletion Utility Version 1.01 Released 05-17-89 Herron Software P.O. Box 1288 Battle Ground, Washington 98604 COPYRIGHT 1988, 1989 Phil Herron. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY __________________________________________ THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED AS IS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE AUTHOR MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS PRODUCT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR LOSS OF PROFIT OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGE ARISING FROM EITHER THE USE OF OR THE INABILITY TO USE THIS PRODUCT. This product should be thoroughly evaluated using backed up or noncritical data and files. _________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents Section _________________________________________________________________ Shareware.................................................. 0.1.0 What it is.............................................. 0.1.1 License Terms........................................... 0.1.2 Registration............................................ 0.1.3 Evaluation................................................. 0.2.0 Evaluation Version...................................... 0.2.1 Evaluation Menu......................................... 0.2.2 Virus Prevention........................................ 0.2.3 CleanOut................................................... 1.0 Introduction............................................ 1.1 Explanation............................................. 1.2 System Requirements..................................... 1.3 Installing........................................... 1.3.1 Help.................................................... 1.4 Syntax.................................................. 1.5 Wildcard Characters.................................. 1.5.1 Examples................................................ 1.6 CleanOut *.BAK with confirmation..................... 1.6.1 CleanOut *.BAK with NO confirmation.................. 1.6.2 File Attributes......................................... 1.7 Applications............................................ 1.8 File Recovery........................................... 1.9 Future Enhancements..................................... 2.0 Version History......................................... 2.1 Support.................................................... 9.0 Problem Resolution...................................... 9.1 Before Reporting........................................ 9.2 Reporting a problem..................................... 9.3 Custom Modifications.................................... 9.4 Correspondence.......................................... 9.5 Product Catalog........................................... 10.0 _________________________________________________________________ 0.1.0 Shareware _________________________________________________________________ 0.1.1 The SHAREWARE Concept _____________________________ "Shareware" is a software distribution method which enables the potential user to obtain software at very low initial cost, for evaluation on a trial basis. You can evaluate the software in your own environment, on your own machine, with the programs and data that you normally use. You're not required to make payment and become a registered user unless the software meets your needs. Another benefit of Shareware is lower pricing. By minimizing the marketing and advertising expenses associated with more traditional software distribution methods, Shareware products can be priced lower. You don't pay for what you don't need or use. You are encouraged to share the evaluation version of this software with others, so long as you follow the limitations set forth in the LICENSE TERMS section below. 0.1.2 LICENSE TERMS _____________________ This product and its documentation are copyrighted and owned solely by the author, who reserves all rights to any benefits derived from it. It is distinctly separate from, and should not be confused with, those categories of software known as "public domain" or "freeware." You are granted without charge a limited license to use the evaluation version of this software on a trial basis, for purposes of deciding whether to continue using (and therefore whether to register) the product, and to transmit this evaluation version to associates by copying on diskette or uploading to electronic bulletin board services, so long as the following CONDITIONS are met: (a) The program and its documentation file must be distributed together. (b) The program and its documentation must not be altered in any way. If you wish to include notes for other evaluators, please add them in a separate file and include that file along with the program and documentation files. 0.1.3 REGISTRATION ____________________ When you send in the registration form and fee, you'll receive by return mail a diskette containing the latest REGISTERED version of the program and documentation. BENEFITS OF REGISTRATION The registered version WILL NOT include the Evaluation Menu front-end or the forms-printing section of this version. Thus it will be more convenient to use, from either the DOS prompt or from batch files. It will also be about 16K bytes smaller, for more efficient disk storage and faster loading. The registered version WILL include any new functions or enhancements made to date. You will receive notification of future updates and new products. You will be able to upgrade to newer versions at a reduced cost. REGISTRATION FORM The registration form and a pre-addressed mailing cover can be printed from the "Forms Printing" selection of the Evaluation menu, discussed in section 0.2.2 below. FEES The single-quantity registration fee is displayed on the initial Evaluation Menu screen. Higher quantities are discussed below. QUANTITY DISCOUNTS Each registered copy of this software will be licensed for operation at only one location (on only one machine) at any one time. If this software will be in use at more than one location at the same time, the appropriate number of registrations must be made. Multiple-quantity registration fees are displayed in the "QUANTITY DISCOUNT" section of the Evaluation menu. You can take advantage of quantity discounts by ordering multiple registrations of one program or single registrations of several different programs at the same time. You also save on shipping and handling charges by registering several products together. GROUP REGISTRATIONS You can also get quantity discounts by combining orders with associates: (1) Complete a separate registration form for each person. Each person's name, address and programs to be registered are needed for support and update notification purposes. (2) Include only one standard shipping and handling charge. Cross out the "Shipping & handling" amounts on all but one registration form; the combined order will be sent to the name and address on that form. (3) Send all the forms together in one envelope or mailing cover, with a single check or money order. _________________________________________________________________ 0.2.0 Evaluation _________________________________________________________________ 0.2.1 EVALUATION VERSION __________________________ This software contains the complete and fully functional version of the program, the latest available at the time of this release. The program itself is identical to the REGISTERED version. An Evaluation Menu and forms-printing section were added to ensure that: (a) Registration information and forms will not become separated from the program file. (b) Users who might be unfamiliar with the process of displaying a file's contents on the screen or printer will have no difficulty learning about, evaluating or registering this product. 0.2.2 EVALUATION MENU _______________________ The program is invoked from the DOS prompt by typing its name and pressing the RETURN or ENTER key. The initial screen displays the warranty section and some information about the program: Program name, Version number, Release date, Single-quantity registration fee. It next displays the Shareware Product EVALUATION MENU. A single key press will select the following functions from the menu: _________________________________________ ESC - EXIT to DOS without evaluating this program R - READ the documentation (THIS file) x - EVALUATE this program Q - QUANTITY Discount information F - FORMS printing menu - registration & mailer _________________________________________ When you press "R" to READ the documentation, this file will be shown one screen at a time. The display pauses whenever the screen becomes full, and prompts... <downArrow> or Esc The <downArrow> character is similar to the "MORE" prompt in other DOS utilities. It indicates that more is available. Press ESCape to exit back to the Evaluation Menu, or any normal typing key to continue (space bar is a convenient key to use). 0.2.3 VIRUS PREVENTION ________________________ If you'd like to evaluate this software but you're not sure where it's been, you can get a copy straight from the source for a $4.00 charge to cover the cost of the diskette, shipping and handling. If your address is outside the U.S. and Canada, add an additional $3.00 (total $7.00, in U.S. funds). Include your mailing address and the name of the program. By return mail you'll receive the latest evaluation version of that program and as many others as will fit on a 5.25 inch diskette. ______________________________________________________________ CLEANOUT 1.0 Selective File Deletion Utility ______________________________________________________________ 1.1 INTRODUCTION __________________ You've been pushing keys for hours; the word processor, the spreadsheet and the occasional pop-up note pad have left a long trail of #@*$^%&!.BAK files strewn across the tree-structured landscape of your disk. Your mind has fogged in; you need to delete some of those backup files to recover storage space, but you're having difficulty focusing on the DOS commands that might help corner them, let alone the names of the subdirectories where they're hiding. Do you look in every subdirectory, or in just the ones you can still name? #@*$^%&!. Repeat the phrase, "I'm going to CLEANOUT this mess!" until it finally registers: CLEANOUT will preserve your sanity for more important things, like recalling where you left your car keys. 1.2 EXPLANATION _________________ CLEANOUT searches the root and all subdirectories of the current drive for ordinary and archive files matching the input filename and extension; wildcard characters * and ? can be used. In the default mode (without /N on the command line), CLEANOUT displays each matching file when found, then waits for user confirmation. The confirmation prompt is ESC-exit D -delete S -save 1.3 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ___________________________ PC, XT, AT or compatible. DOS version 2.1 or later. 64K free memory. 1.3.1 INSTALLING __________________ The program can be run from diskette or from hard disk. No installation is necessary, other than copying the files to a drive and directory of your choosing. 1.4 HELP __________ Can't remember the command line syntax? Issue the program's name without any parameters; it will display a help screen, then return to the DOS prompt. 1.5 SYNTAX ____________ CleanOut [filename.ext] [/N] \ No confirmation 1.5.1 WILDCARD CHARACTERS ___________________________ Wildcard characters * and ? are legal for use in specifying filenames and extensions. Certain combinations are trapped and not allowed; these specific combinations are interpreted by DOS to mean "ALL files": * . .* *.* *.??? .??? ????????.* ????????.??? ________________________________________________________ | | | - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - | |________________________________________________________| | | | There may be MORE combinations that specify "ALL | | files"; the list above covers ONLY the ones trapped | | by CLEANOUT. | | | | If you experiment, use the default "CONFIRM" mode. | |________________________________________________________| When used with extensions of .* or .???, filenames containing EIGHT question marks are disallowed, but those containing SEVEN or FEWER are allowed, since they specify valid filenames that are not "ALL files". Similarly, when used with filenames of * or ???????? (eight question marks), extensions containing THREE question marks are disallowed, but those containing TWO or ONE are allowed, since they specify valid extensions that are not "ALL files." 1.6 EXAMPLES ______________ CleanOut *.bak (finds and prompts for deletion of all .BAK files on current drive) 1.6.1 OPERATING SCREEN with confirmation (default mode) _________________________________________________________ The operating screen appears whenever "CLEANOUT" is issued from the DOS prompt (or from a batch file) with a file specification; in this example, the complete command line is: CleanOut *.bak and the screen displays: __CleanOut____________________ |______________________________| CleanOut *.BAK on drive C: \ \ \ \ filespec current drive The screen next displays the drive letter and subdirectory currently being searched, until a file is found that matches the input file specification. The search can be exited at any time by pressing the ESCAPE key. Upon finding a file, the screen displays: C:\(ROOT directory) MYFILE .BAK 471842 07-01-88 20:57 At this point the cursor is placed to the right of the file information, and you are prompted for confirmation in a highlighted bar at the bottom of the screen: ESC-exit D -delete S -save \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ Save file, continue searching. \ Delete file, continue searching. Exit CleanOut without deleting the file. Press the "ESCape" key, the "D" key or any other typing key; ANY key other than "ESC" or "D" is equivalent to "S" and saves the file. The above process is repeated until all subdirectories on the drive have been checked and no more matching files are found. A SUMMARY line then reports the number of matching files found, the number deleted, and the disk storage space recovered: Found 1 file in 1 directory; 1 deleted. 475,136 bytes recovered. The "bytes recovered" specification is not merely the total of the sizes of the deleted files, but the actual disk space freed up by their deletion (freed clusters multiplied by the bytes- per-cluster spec of the current drive). 1.6.2 OPERATING SCREEN with NO confirmation _____________________________________________ In this example, the complete command line is CleanOut *.bak /N \ (NO confirmation) and the screen displays: __CleanOut____________________ |______________________________| CleanOut *.BAK on drive C: - NO CONFIRMATION - C:\ C:\subdir1\ C:\subdir2\ . . The screen displays only a list of the drive letter and subdirectory currently being searched. As each file matching your input filespec is found, it is IMMEDIATELY DELETED without pausing for confirmation. If you decide not to continue, you can terminate CLEANOUT by pressing the ESCAPE key at any time, although by now some of the files have probably already been deleted. To avoid this in the future you may want to use CLEANOUT's default "confirmation" mode, previously described, whenever you're not completely sure about which files to delete. 1.7 FILE ATTRIBUTES _____________________ Cleanout will find and delete only those files with attributes of ORDINARY or ARCHIVE. All files with other attributes are ignored: ReadOnly, Hidden, System, Volume label, Directory. 1.8 APPLICATIONS __________________ CLEANOUT can be called from a batch file. If you have a logoff batch file that performs such functions as writing the time and date to a log file and parking the hard disk heads, add the line CLEANOUT *.BAK /N to the batch file, prior to the point where it parks the heads. From then on all your BAK files will be cleaned out automatically. Besides providing convenience, such batch file usage can be safer than entering critical commands directly. It is not unheard of, after a long day, to enter "del *.baT" when you meant to type "del *.baK". If you have several hard disks, or one that is split into several "logical" drives, add the following lines to your logoff batch file (example assumes hard drives C and D)... C: (makes C: the currently logged drive) CLEANOUT *.BAK /N D: (makes D: the currently logged drive) CLEANOUT *.BAK /N BAK files are reason enough for using CLEANOUT, but it can also be useful for deleting other files, whether or not related by name/extension, since it searches all areas of a disk to find them. Use caution if you have duplicate or overlapping filenames or extensions in several subdirectories. Remember, the invocation CLEANOUT *.ba? will find all files with extensions of .BAK, .BAT and .BAS, anywhere on the disk. Of course, in the default mode it asks for confirmation before deleting any of them. 1.9 FILE RECOVERY ___________________ If you delete the wrong file... The file deletion method used by CLEANOUT is identical to that used by the DOS "DELETE" and "ERASE" commands. Until overwritten by another file, an "erased" file still exists on the disk, but with a modified disk directory entry that designates it as "space available for use." The next time a file is saved to disk, the "erased" file may be overwritten. Recovery MAY be possible with a file "undelete" utility (several Shareware versions are on the market) if you do so PRIOR to saving any more files to that disk (thus overwriting the contents of the "erased" file). The BEST protection against losing files is to (1) Make regular backup copies of critical files. (2) Use CleanOut's default "Confirm" mode. 2.0 FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS _________________________ In the default "confirm" mode, CLEANOUT displays the name of each file found, then waits for you to save or delete it. At this point, a built-in "file read" function would be useful when you're not sure what the file contains. Such a function will be explored for a future version. 2.1 VERSION HISTORY _____________________ 1.00 Initial release. 1.01 Error trapping of wildcard "ALL files" combinations. _________________________________________________________________ 9.0 Support _________________________________________________________________ 9.1 PROBLEM RESOLUTION ________________________ Please document and report any anomaly in program operation, whether it's a genuine "bug" or just some feature of the program that particularly "bugs" you. If you're the first person to document and report a problem that we agree needs attention, you'll receive a free upgrade with the correction when it's been made. If you're a registered user, you'll get the upgraded registered version; if you haven't yet registered, you'll get the upgraded evaluation version. 9.2 BEFORE REPORTING ______________________ Things to try prior to reporting a problem: 1 - Reread the documentation to make sure you understand what we thought we understood when we wrote it. 2 - If the system reports "Bad command or file name" when you attempt to run the program, its executable file (or at least the file name you specified) was not found. First, make sure no typos or misspellings have crept into your command line; next, try changing your PATH setting, or make the drive & directory where the program resides the "current" drive & directory. 3 - If the program is being run from a batch file, try deleting lines previous to the line that actually invokes the program, to see if some prior activity is causing the problem. 4 - If you have any memory-resident or "TSR" utilities installed (pop-up calculators/note pads, keyboard enhancements, etc.), try removing them from memory and running the program again to see if the problem reoccurs. 9.3 REPORTING A PROBLEM _________________________ If the problem persists, please document it as completely and accurately as possible; we have to be able to duplicate it before we can begin to resolve it. Include at least the following: 1 - Version of DOS you are using. 2 - Machine type, drives, memory, etc. 3 - Programs executed prior to the problem. 4 - Problem program's name and version number. 5 - Where and how you obtained the problem program. 6 - Address and/or phone number where you can be contacted. 7 - Anything you can think of that might relate to the problem; for example, listings of your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files, or any batch files used to run the program. 8 - Any relevant printouts. NOTE: If you're a registered user, you'll find the utility UserResp.Exe on the distribution diskette; it can be used to print a pre-addressed mailer and a problem report. If you have not yet registered, send problem reports to the address below (or print the pre-addressed mailer from the Evaluation Menu). 9.4 CUSTOM MODIFICATIONS __________________________ If you need custom modifications to this software for your particular application, please write to the below address with complete details of your requirements. 9.5 CORRESPONDENCE ____________________ We welcome any comments or suggestions you might have concerning improvements and future enhancements to this product. Send all correspondence to: Phil Herron P.O. Box 1288 Battle Ground, Washington USA 98604 _________________________________________________________________ 10.0 Product Catalog _________________________________________________________________ This section contains a list of products available or near completion as of this release date; it will be updated whenever new products are added. ChkD - Drive Total/Free/Used report by value & percent ChkM - Memory Total/Free/Used report by value & percent CleanOut - Selective file deletion, with confirmation CleanTxt - WordStar to Ascii convert, ctrl char strip, tab expand CleanZ - Ctrl-Z End Of File char strip or replace FindF - Find File(s) in any directory of current drive Gen - Generate files for testing printer, storage or timing KeySet - CapsLock-NumLock-ScrollLock-PrtSc key setup PrinTest - Parallel Printer Test & Status reporting Qscn - Convert text to executable file for Quick Screen display. ScanF - Scan File for text strings ScanM - Scan Memory for text strings Split - File splitter StoRm - STorage RooM needed for files on any disk/any DOS ver. _______________________________________________________________ | | | COPYRIGHT 1989 Phil Herron. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. | |_______________________________________________________________|