COPAS@IGL.ENG.OHIO-STATE.EDU (Ken Copas) (09/19/90)
Can someone tell me how to establish privileges in DOS? What I have is a classroom full of 386 machines which run DOS driven programs. What I need is a way to protect the system from its users. I don't want them to be able to delete files, add files, induce viruses, etc... Please E-mail me at copas@igl1.eng.ohio-state.edu if you have any ideas. Thanks. --Ken.
a177@mindlink.UUCP (Tony Bearman) (09/21/90)
-> Can someone tell me how to establish privileges in DOS? -> -> What I have is a classroom full of 386 machines which run DOS -> driven programs. What I need is a way to protect the system from -> its users. I don't want them to be able to delete files, add -> files, induce viruses, etc... -> -> Ken, there is no foolproof way to protect a DOS system from a sophisticated user. You can, however, make it very difficult. In the scenario you present, I presume the machines are equipped with hard drives, and probably one floppy drive. Open the machines and disconnect the floppy drive cable. (Might as well pull the power connector too) Run your setup utility and tell the system what you've done. Run your favourite editor against COMMAND.COM and replace DELETE and ERASE with words of your choosing. Either match the original string lengths, or terminate with spaces. (Don't wipe out the end-of-string terminator) Do the same thing with COPY (All caps on this one - there are other lower-case 'copy' strings in here that you can ignore) Now the system *must* be booted from your DOS, and only you know the commands to copy files or delete them. If you don't leave the machines unattended in the presence of determined tinkerers, you should be OK. (Run a virus checker against them first, if you suspect someone has already been up to no good) Oh - by the way - your fave editor should be of the NU or PCTools variety, not WordPerfect. Even Debug if you're truly bent. Good Luck. Tony.