Cowan Software, Ltd. 962 Harris Parkway Cartersville, GA 30120 IMPORTANT NOTICE !!! It is not always possible to predict how this program or any pro- gram that alters the disk boot sector will function in a particu- lar system. Backup important disks and use the program on the backup copy for maximum safety. See the license and liability disclaimer at the end of this document. The program requires a 286 or higher IBM Compatible machine. AutoBoot During the booting routine, the processor looks at the A: drive to check for the presence of a diskette. This is both necessary and useful. For example, if the hard drive malfunctions, or if the configuration files become corrupted, a system disk can be inserted in the A: drive and the boot process continued from the A: drive. Problems with the hard drive can then be corrected or, if necessary, it can be reformatted. Likewise, some programs re- quire a special machine configuration, so they interrupt normal booting and use a special CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT file stored on the program diskette. Unfortunately, if a non-system disk is left in the A: drive, the booting process stops. You must open the A: drive door and press a key to continue the bootup. This can be a nuisance if for some reason you want to leave a data disk in the A: drive. The AUTOBOOT program modifies diskettes so they can be left in the A: drive during boot up. It does so without using any disk space and may be used on old disks that already contain data as well as newly formatted disks. It goes without saying that DOS system disks and any program disks that need to capture control during bootup must not be converted or their usefulness may be lost. Uses for "Transparent Diskettes" Many times it is helpful to use a floppy diskette as a backup for wordprocessor or database files. This is a convenient and inex- pensive alternative to tape backup for small systems. At the end of a work session, modified files can be copied over to the diskette. Once processed, the backup diskette can be "permanently" left in the drive. Using AUTOBOOT The program is started by placing the diskette in the A: or B: drive, or accessing the directory on the hard drive where it is stored. Type AUTOBOOT and press . You now must select which drive to process (A or B). The program will tell you what it is about to do and ask you to press "Y" if you wish to continue. If you started the program from the floppy, you can remove the program diskette and insert diskettes to be processed into that drive. Diskettes to be processed must be formatted and not be write pro- tected. Existing files will not be affected as only the boot sec- tor is modified. Once a disk has been processed, it can be re- moved and others processed during the same session. Converted diskettes may be left in the A: drive during bootup without terminating the process. The system will continue booting using the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files on the hard drive. License and Liability Limitations This program is protected by U.S. Copyright laws. You are li- censed to use this product in the manner described in this docu- ment for a trial period of 30 days. The program and the associ- ated documents may be transferred to Bulletin Boards and to other users provided they accept the 30 day limitation. Diskettes processed using this program are for the use of the li- censee and may not be sold to another. This program is warranted to be free of known defects at the time of distribution and to function as described in the supplied lit- erature. Due to the complex nature of computer software, the possibility of unrecognized software errors, and the unpredictable result this program might have when used in a particular system, Cowan Software, Ltd. assumes no liability for any adverse result stem- ming from the use of this product. Such adverse possibilities in- clude, but are not limited to, the loss of data and program mate- rial as well as the loss of revenue due to system malfunction.