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│ ■ KILL 1.40 * Ultimate File Deletion Program ■ │
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About KILL 1.40:
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KILL is a replacement for the DOS DEL command. KILL is extremely fast
and offers many features over the normal DEL commnd, making it a viable
alternative to it's DOS counterpart.
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║KILL will kill ANY file with ANY attribute on a disk. The only way ║
║KILL won't kill is if you have write-protected the disk! Be warned, ║
║also, that KILLing a file usually makes it non-undeletable, even ║
║without using the /s switch!! ║
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▌This version of KILL has NEW!! features. Please read this file for ▐
▌information about them. ▐
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Installation:
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Just put the KILL.EXE file in a subdirectory in your DOS PATH. That's
all there is to it!
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║KILL is now compiled in two different executables. One executable is ║
║needed for 8086/8088 CPUs, the other for 80286 CPUs and better. The ║
║KILL.EXE that is included in this archive is for the 80286 version. ║
║Rename KILL.XT to KILL.EXE if you have an 8086/8088 CPU. This change ║
║will hopefully speed up KILL on systems that will allow it. ║
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Guarantee:
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Edlersoft offers no guarantee that KILL will do anything except occupy
disk space. Although KILL has been tested thoroughly on my system and
many others, it is not guaranteed to work at all on yours. The warranty
is simple: if KILL breaks, you get to keep the pieces.
You may not alter or modify KILL in any way. You may not charge money
for KILL, except for the cost of shipping and/or disks. This charge
may not exceed $5.
NOTE:
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KILL is not for the weak of heart. USE KILL ONLY WHEN YOU ARE SURE
YOU DON'T WANT FILES! The only other way I can think to put this
is: If you're not sure whether you should get rid of a file, DEL it.
If you want to be sure the file never comes back to haunt you, KILL it.
Registration:
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There is none!!! KILL is a Public Domain utility by Edlersoft
Technology.
I would appreciate it, tho, if you filled out a form or sent me a
message via FidoNET telling me about yourself. This is so I can keep
track of who uses KILL and find a way to get updates out as easily as
possible. Including your name, address, phone number, occupation, etc.
would be appreciated, as well as any suggestions you have about future
versions of KILL. For information on how to contact me, read on...
If you feel generous, though, a donation would be greatly appreciated.
With your donation you may receive a list of other Edlersoft goodies as
soon as they are released. You may also receive other PD utilities by
Edlersoft.
Command Line Usage:
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KILL [options] masks [options] [masks] ...
The secure deletion switches are the same as previous versions.
/s : TOGGLES secure deletion algorithm.
The switches that allow for recursive deletion are the same, also.
/r : TOGGLE recursive delete of subdirectory[ies].
/rd : TOGGLE recursive delete AND remove subdirectory[ies] (both)
The switches to delete by size:
/gnnn : All files matching mask(s) that are GREATER than nnn bytes.
/lnnn : All files matching mask(s) that are LESS than nnn bytes.
/ennn : All files matching mask(s) that are EQUAL to nnn bytes.
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║Now you CAN recursively and securely delete subdirectories. Previous ║
║versions of KILL would produce weird results if you tried this. Now ║
║it's feexed! Just remember, when you securely delete something, it's ║
║gone forever, unless you have a backup!!! :-) ║
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As of version 1.20, KILL will accept a control file with a list of
switches, directories, masks, etc. to delete. This allows you to do a
LOT of deleting, without worrying about overflowing the command-line
buffer. In order to use a control file, you must precede the name of
the file with the "@" character. e.g. KILL @KILL.CTL will use KILL.CTL
to delete files/directories. The control file can be any valid DOS
filename. See the section on Control Files for more information
There is a new feature available in this version of KILL. It allows you
to kill files except those that match a certain mask/filename pattern.
Note this option is slower than a normal KILL.
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║You CAN recursively delete files by size! In fact, you can specify ║
║any combination of switches to do whatever you want! ║
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Examples:
KILL Shows a brief help screen.
KILL *.* Removes all files with any attributes in the current
directory. This includes READ ONLY, HIDDEN, and SYSTEM!
KILL /xCOMMAND.COM *.*
Removes all files except COMMAND.COM. You can specify up to
ten (10) exceptions, whether they're file masks or filenames.
KILL /s *.* Secure delete. This method is *GUARANTEED* to not be
undeletable. If you find a way to undelete a file after
using the /s switch, let me know and I'll PAY YOU for your
troubles!
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║The secure delete function has been made even more secure with this ║
║version of KILL! ║
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KILL *.EXE /s *.C /s *.BAK *.COM
The above may seem complicated, but once you understand
the way KILL reads the command-line info, it's very
simple. KILL processes the command line from first to
last, and can switch from secure delete to normal
delete a multitude of times. The above example would
delete all .EXE files normally, securely delete all .C
files, and then normally delete all .BAK and .COM
files.
KILL /e0 /g1000 *.*
This would KILL all files with 0 bytes, plus all files
greater than 1000 bytes in the current directory. You can
have up to ten (10) size specifiers to have KILL process.
Add more and KILL will ignore them.
KILL /s *.C *.BAK *.COM /s *.EXE
First, KILL toggles secure delete on, deletes all files
with .C, .BAK, and .COM extensions, turns secure delete
off, and deletes all .EXE files.
KILL /r \windows\*.exe
The above example will go through all the directories
under \windows and KILL all .EXE files, leaving the
directory structure intact.
KILL /rd \windows\*.* /rd /r \tc\*.*
This example will go through all the directories under
\windows and KILL all files and remove all directories,
leaving no trace of their previous existence. Next,
recursive and remove is toggled off, recurse is toggled
on, and the directory structure in \tc is left intact.
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║To save space and speed, KILL does not do extensive error checking. ║
║If you intend to remove the directories it is wise to not be in those ║
║directories. It would also be wise to use the *.* mask instead of ║
║another, unless you are sure what files reside in that directory. ║
║KILL will report an error trying to remove an unempty directory, but ║
║WILL NOT stop processing. In other words, if it can't remove a ║
║directory, it'll tell you and go on. ║
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KILL @filename.ext
This example would use the control file FILENAME.EXT to do
it's work. See the section on control files for more
information.
Control Files:
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KILL will process control files if you have a lot of deleting to do.
I use the feature when I want to do a lot of cleaning in a directory. I
used to type dir>kill.log at the command line, and load up my favorite
text editor and edit the listing, removing any files I want to keep. This
got old fast, so now I'm including KillCtl, a control-file manager for
KILL. Read the separate dox for usage.
Control files can only have one command per line. These include all
switches (/s,/r,/rd) and any directory/file mask pair. An example is
included with this archive. For explanation purposes, a small one is
included here: *NOTE* Comments are NOT allowed in control files!!
Any line you include is processed by KILL, no matter what!!
c:\autoexec.old
/s
/rd
c:\win\*.*
c:\wep\*.*
c:\mps\*.*
/s
d:\menus\*.*
e:\ra\*.*
e:\fd\*.*
/rd
/r
c:\tc\*.C
Ok, that might seem complicated, but KILL processes control files like
the command line, it doesn't "look ahead" to see what is next. KILL
toggles secure delete ON, recursive and remove ON, and deletes c:\win,
c:\wep, c:\mps directories. Secure is toggled OFF, d:\menus, e:\ra,
and e:\fd are deleted. Here's the confusing part: When you specify
/rd, it toggles both recursive and remove ON or OFF. The first /rd
toggles these ON, the second toggles them OFF. Thus the need for
another /r to toggle recurse ON, and leave the c:\tc directory structure
intact without the .C files.
Errors:
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KILL returns three different categories of errors:
0 = No errors.
>0 = Errors.
255 = The help screen was displayed.
Some possible errors and their values include:
Error # 2 = No such file or directory
Error # 3 = Path not found
Error # 4 = Too many open files
Error # 5 = Permission denied
Error # 6 = Bad file number
Error # 7 = Memory area trashed
Error # 8 = Not enough memory
Error # 9 = Invalid memory block address
Error #18 = No more files
Error #19 = Invalid argument
Error #20 = Arg list too big
Of course, there are more possible errors that KILL could return.
These are just the more common ones. KILL will always list the
error it encountered.
Other stuff:
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KILL 1.40 is Copyright(c) 1992 Edlersoft Technology. All rights are
reserved.
If you have any questions, comments, problems, or SUGGESTIONS! contact
the Edlersoft support staff (me) by writing to:
Josh Edler
Edlersoft Technology
12116 W. Loran Rd.
Pearl City, IL 61062
If you're a modem user you can also reach me on the BlackStar BBS,
(815) 233-5574, the Gateway NET BBS, (815) 233-5008, the Boomtown BBS,
(815) 868-2422, or at FidoNET address 1:2270/443.5 by leaving a message
to Josh Edler. If you have troubles logging on and such, leave the most
excellent sysops of the respective BBS a message, and they will be glad
to help you.
COMING SOON!!!
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Edlersoft is proud to announce a new support BBS for Edlersoft
products, as well as other programs, games, mail. What's best, this
BBS is FREE! Contact me about the CyberLink BBS for more information.
A few last words...
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For those of you interested, KILL was compiled using Borland's Turbo
C++ 3.0. Later versions of KILL promise to be FASTER!!! and have more
features. PLEASE!! send me your suggestions. Without them, KILL
would be nothing. Thanx...
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