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SCANM Memory Scanning Utility Version 1.00 Released 05-20-89 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 ScanM...................................................... 1.0 Introduction............................................ 1.1 Explanation............................................. 1.2 System Requirements..................................... 1.3 Installing........................................... 1.3.1 Help.................................................... 1.4 Syntax.................................................. 1.5 Examples................................................ 1.6 Operating Screen........................................ 1.6.1 Some Locations to scan.................................. 1.7 Technical Notes......................................... 1.8 Segmented Memory Addressing.......................... 1.8.1 Address Conversion - Logical to Physical............. 1.8.2 Address Conversion - Physical to Logical............. 1.8.3 Version History......................................... 2.0 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. ______________________________________________________________ ScanM 1.0 Memory Scanning Utility ______________________________________________________________ 1.1 INTRODUCTION __________________ You'd like to scan through your system's memory space for copyrights and other readable text, but either you don't have the DOS DEBUG utility or you don't have the patience to use it. Even if you do, you'll still have to manually scan over many screens of data to find all the text. 1.2 EXPLANATION _________________ ScanM is designed for easily viewing the printable ASCII text characters within your system's memory space, while filtering out control (ASCII values below 32 decimal) and extended characters (ASCII values above 127 decimal). ScanM displays any strings of standard ASCII characters that is four or more characters in length. Strings found are displayed down the left side of the screen, one string per line. Spreading out the strings in this manner eases the task of picking the real information out of the nonsense text. ScanM pauses at the bottom of each screen, to allow you to continue scanning or to escape back to DOS. The down-arrow prompt indicates that more follows; press ESCAPE to terminate, or any OTHER key to continue. 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 ____________ ScanM [[startSeg][:startOfs]] [[endSeg][:endOfs]] Where... startSeg = Memory segment to begin scan startOfs = Offset within segment to begin scan If not specified, defaults to 0000 hex. endSeg = Memory segment to end scan If not specified, defaults to FFFF hex. endOfs = Offset within segment to end scan If not specified, defaults to 000F hex. All parameters must be in hexadecimal (base 16). 1.6 EXAMPLES ______________ ScanM F600 scans from F600:0000 to top of memory space ScanM F600:A scans from F600:000A to top of memory space ScanM F600 F800 scans from F600:0000 to F800:0000 ScanM F600:A F800 scans from F600:000A to F800:0000 ScanM F600:A F800:C scans from F600:000A to F800:000C Top of memory space is physical location FFFFF hex (1,048,575 decimal). The following logical addresses, among others, point to the top physical address: FFFF:000F FFF0:00FF FF00:0FFF F000:FFFF See the TECHNICAL NOTES section below for further explanation. 1.6.1 OPERATING SCREEN ________________________ The operating screen appears whenever "ScanM" is issued from the DOS prompt with a file specification; in this example, the complete command line is: ScanM C800 which scans the area beginning at the hard disk controller ROM. The screen display is: __ScanM_______________________ |______________________________| Scan range C800:0000 to FFFF:000F \ \ beginning ending address address C800:08 (C) Copyright 1984 Western Digital Corporation C81E:03 SQRUWV C81F \ \ \ \ Text string found at this address \ Offset \ Segment A running display of the segment being scanned is maintained on screen; whenever a text string of 4 or more characters is encountered, the starting offset and the string are displayed. Only a two-digit offset is displayed; SCANM keeps it normalized within the range 00 through 0F hex. 1.7 SOME LOCATIONS TO SCAN ____________________________ Long pauses between groups of text strings are normal when scanning large areas of memory space; the area could contain junk or program code, or might not have any RAM or ROM devices assigned to it. For example, C800:0000 appears to be the standard location for the first hard disk's controller ROM. If your system does not have a hard disk controller installed, then that area will obviously not contain any intelligible text strings. Memory map for some PC-Compatibles: Segment Used for ------- --------------------------------------------- F000 ROM area - diagnostics, BIOS E000 ROM area - usually empty D000 ROM area - usually empty C000 ROM area - hard disk controllers B000 Display RAM (mono at B000, CGA at B800) A000 Display RAM expansion (EGA) 9000 User RAM, high end 8000 . 7000 . 6000 . 5000 . 4000 . 3000 . 2000 . 1000 . 0000 User RAM, low end USER RAM There's probably little reason, other than curiosity, to scan the lower regions of the memory space for text strings. The contents of RAM change depending on the program you are currently running. The locations below segment address A000 will all contain RAM, if you have 640KB of RAM installed; otherwise, some of them will be empty. DISPLAY RAM The display memory areas of A000 and B000 will contain RAM only for the particular video adapter installed in your system. ROM AREAS Areas containing ROM (the system's "firmware") will contain copyright notices and software version information from the manufacturers who programmed that particular ROM. Typical ZENITH ROM areas ------------------------ F800:0 thru FFFF:F BIOS ROM ( 32K ) F400:0 thru F800:0 Reserved for ROM ( 16K ) C800:0 thru C9FF:F Hard disk controller ROM ( 8K ) Typical IBM ROM areas --------------------- FE00:0 BIOS ROM ( 8K ) F600:0 BASIC ROM ( 32K ) F400:0 Reserved 8K for ROM E000:0 PCjr ROM packs D000:0 " " C800:0 Hard disk controller ROM 1.8 TECHNICAL NOTES _____________________ 1.8.1 SEGMENTED MEMORY ADDRESSING ___________________________ The Intel 8086/8088 devices can address a million (1024K) physical memory locations. The newer 80286 and 80386 devices are limited to addressing the same number of locations when operated in 8086 compatibility mode, also known as "real" mode, under DOS version 3.0 and later. Addressing a million locations requires 20 bits (2^20 = 1,048,576 decimal), but the internal registers of the 8086/8088 are only 16 bits wide. This shortage of bits is remedied by splitting up physical memory addresses into segment addresses and offset addresses. During program memory references, the contents of the segment register are shifted left by four bits and added to the offset to form a 20-bit memory address that can directly access 1024KB of memory. 1.8.2 ADDRESS CONVERSION - Logical to Physical __________________ Segmented (logical) address to 20-bit physical address... Multiply the Segment by 10 hex (same as shifting left by one hex digit or four binary digits), then add the Offset. Example - Segment:Offset is FFFF:000F Multiply Seg by 10h FFFF x 10 = FFFF0 Add Offset + 000F -------- Resulting 20-bit address is FFFFF. 1.8.3 ADDRESS CONVERSION - Physical to Logical __________________ 20-bit physical address to Segmented address... Offset: Pick any convenient value. The offset can be up to four hex digits (16 bits), so it can range from 0000 to FFFF. However it can't be larger than the physical address, and its LSD (least-significant digit) should be the same as the LSD of the physical address for this nefarious scheme to work correctly. Segment: Subtract the offset from the physical address, then divide the result by 10 hex. Example - physical address is FFFFF Select an offset of FFFF Subtract the offset from the phys.address FFFFF - FFFF = F0000 Divide the above result by 10 h F0000 / 10 = F000 Result is F000:FFFF Notice that a given physical address may convert to various segmented addresses, depending on the offset chosen. The following logical addresses all point to physical address FFFFF. FFFF:000F FFF0:00FF FF00:0FFF F000:FFFF 2.0 VERSION HISTORY _____________________ 1.00 Initial release. _________________________________________________________________ 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. | |_______________________________________________________________|