ERS32 Emergency Recovery System 32 bit. Windows 95 only. Updated May/29/ 97 to Version:1.7 Final by Orca Software Copyright © 1996/97. All Rights Reserved. Theodore Fattaleh author and publisher. All Program Names are Registered Trademarks of their Respective Owners. Legal agreement Registration Overview Installation Uninstalling Create a Backup Restoring a Backup Troubleshooting Useful Tips Additional features ********************************************************************** Legal Agreement *************** ERS32 has been tested to successfully restore Win95 System files listed in the Overview section. ERS32 has been tested to install on many computer makes and types with no problem what so ever. NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. In no event shall publisher, author, programmer or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use this product, even if been advised of the possibility of such damages. Because some states/jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation still apply to you. It is your responsibility to read the read1st.txt before installing. ********************************************************************** Registration ************ ERS32 : Emergency Recovery System 32 bit. Windows 95 only. Updated May/ 27/ 97. Version 1.7 Final You are allowed to put this program in your Home Page for downloads, with the condition that no part of it is to be modified or changed. Use the address and e-mail below for any comments, questions or suggestions. Also, regularly check for updated versions at: http://www.mslm.com, or send me an e-mail for update notification. Note: http://www.mslm.com and http://www.multisyslaunch.com are the same Copyright (c) 1996/97. All Rights Reserved. All Program Names are Registered Trademarks of their Respective Owners. ====================================================== This is an unregistered, fully working shareware utility with no time limit or any nagging reminders. If you like it (and I am very sure it would bail you out of trouble and will save you lots time from trying to restore system files manually), you are allowed to use it for sixty days ... after that please register. Registration fee is $15. Your feedback is essential to us. Support shareware, send $15 US$, add additional $5 and you will get ERSPro too (doesn’t include shipping and handling) ERSPro has more features than ERS32, that is single user five computers licenses, add $3 for each extra license. Government, schools, colleges and large institutes contact publisher for special pricing. Shipping and handling: US$6 Within USA and Canada for each* program, one time mailing. US$10 all other countries for each* program, one time mailing. *Since ERSPro is still in beta, pricing will be changed. Theodore Fattaleh 1834 S Bentley Ave #202 West Los Angeles, CA 90025 Be sure to send me your e-mail for updates. Registered owners will receive full e-mail support, tips on how to survive a crash and future updates to v 1.7 add additional $5 and you will get ERSPro too. Ted's E-mail addresses: 2000@msn.com rustyted@pacbell.net 2000ted@gte.net Feel free to visit my Web Site, there you can post any questions or comments regarding ERS in the "ERS Support Forum" at: http://www.mslm.com ********************************************************************* OVERVIEW ******** By using ERS32, Win95 system files are backed-up and you are able to restore them (including the Windows Registry). ERS32 has proven to be an excellent and reliable backup and restore program. The program was implemented when it was found that Win95 backup program ERU,CFGBCK, and when says it will restore from backup were less than 100% reliable. The ERS Backup is done from the Windows environment, but restore must to be done from the Command prompt Only(so called DOS outside Windows) (which is generally all that one can manage to get to when a really serious crash has occurred). The files that ERS32 creates backups from are: · System.dat · System.da0 · User.dat · User.da0 · System.ini · Win.ini · Command.com (from the Windows directory) · MSDOS.sys · IO.sys · Protocol.ini · Autoexec.bat (if present) · Config.sys (if present) Multiuser support: If you have Profiles, each Profile"s User.dat and User.da0 are backed up, no need to re-install if you changed profiles, ERS32 automatically will detect new profiles. The original ERS program proved to be an excellent backup and restore utility, and now it's here in a 32 bit version. special features : Autonotice and Automated Backup ************************************************************************* Installation: ************* Extract ers32.zip and select install (from WinZip) or extract to a temporary folder and double click setup.exe. Note: If you're running out of room on your "C" drive, you can select to install ERS32 to any other hard drive you may have in your system. Also if you have a Computer like NEC PC9821 which the boot drive is A, ERS32 will install in that directory. ERS32 1.4 and later are programmed with Visual Basic 5.0 so setup will update your system to VB5, the update is necessary because most newer programs will require you to update to VB5, since VB5 is in it's early stage we included the update with ERS32. VB5 is absolutely safe and doesn't have any bugs what so ever. If you have problems installing or running ERS32 you might need the OLE2Upadte from Microsoft,also available from our website. ******************************************************************************* Uninstalling: ************* To Uninstall ERS32: Before uninstalling be shure that the " Use Autonotice " in the menu is unchecked ,this way you won't have to remove the shortcut to ERSAuto.exe from the startupfolder manually. If you are uninstalling to install an update of ERS32,go to Control Panel. Click add/remove programs,hi-light Emergency Recovery System 32 from the list and click Uninstall. When installing an update be shure to install ERS32 into the same directory as before. After installation you will be able to use you old backups. If you want to remove ERS32 completly read the note first. Note : Uninstalling ERS32 will not delete the backups you made, delete them from ERS32 first or you will have to delete them manually. ********************************************************************************** Backup ******* ERS can be found within the "Start Menu" listings under "Programs" or you can create a shortcut for your desktop in the usual way. Click on one of the "SLOTS" push buttons to backup in the slot of your choice At this point you can add a remark to your backup such as : "Before I installed program X". The remark will help you to select the correct backup in case you want to restore. Click OK to add the remark you typed. If you click cancel or didn't type a remark a standard :"Contains backup" will be added as remark. Slot 1 is ERS1 , Slot 2 is ERS2, Slot 3 is ERS3. Slots are simply folders named 1, 2 and 3 which will be created in the ERS32 directory on your hard drive. This where the three independent backups will be stored, but keep in mind that each backup can take up several megabytes of disk space. Slot Auto is an additional backup, see additional features. I myself keep more than one backup at all times, and I always keep it up-to-date. Remember, when you do a restore, it will restore to the same settings that you had when you did that last backup, so if you didn't backup after making successful changes to your system, those changes will not be recovered. Only those changes made before the most recent backup are recoverable. ******************************************************************************** Restore from backups: ********************* With ERS32, you'll have up to three backups from which to do your restore , an additional backup if you use scheduled backup using Automated backup. Restart your computer, push F8 on the keyboard when the screen says "Starting Windows 95", and select the option "Command Prompt Only" from the menu. If you want to check the creation dates or any remarks you added to the backups, type : ERSINFO To restore just type ERS1 ,ERS2 , ERS3 or ERSAUTO at the command prompt depending upon which backup you want to initiate the restoration from. Type "Y" to continue,"N" to exit without restoring the backup. After restoration, press ctrl+alt+del to restart computer, Windows 95 should operate once again. Explanations of many MS-DOS modes in Win95: **************************** There could be up to four instances of MS-DOS in Win95. In case of a clean Windows' 95 install there are only three. only one works with ERS and ERS32 and that is this one: · Start your computer and select F8 when says "Starting Win95" from the menu you must select: "Command Prompt only", that is MSDOS Stand alone, Win95 is completely out of the picture here. (this is the one to select to restore system files) The ones not to use: · MSDOS inside windows called MSDOS Prompt. (don't use this one) · MSDOS mode outside Windows, is the one that when you Shut down windows and select Exit to MS DOS.(Still controlled by Win95) (don't use this one) · When you start your computer and select F8 when says "Starting Win95" from the menu you can select: "Previous version of MS-DOS" if you installed Win95 on top DOS6.22 or then you will have option in the menu to select.(don't use this one ) ********************************************************************************* Troubleshooting: *************** The program has been tested and proven to work very well. Always read the screen while it is doing the restore. If you get the error message: "Bad command or File name" while restoring , then manually copy the file attrib.exe from the Windows Command directory to the C: directory. If you get Error message "ERS32 was unable to find some systems files" Check in C:\Windows\Profiles, see if there is a folder in there that has no User.dat or User.da0 in them. If this is the case, delete the profile name, then go to: Control Panel\Password click the Users Profiles tab and select "All users of this PC use same Preferences and Desktop Setting". Note: Many computers have Profiles added as an option and users don't know that they exist, be very careful in configuring and deleting profiles. If you decided to delete Profiles you will have to copy missing shortcuts from Profiles to the main StartMenu and Desktop configured without profiles. ******************************************************************************* Useful Tips: ************* Remember a few things: · Print the readme1.txt and save it for a rainy day or at least print the backup and restore section. · Always do good fresh backups, don't say I don't need these backups because one day you will wish that you had a backup. · Always keep more than one backup and get familiarized with this program. · When you do a restore, it will restore to the same settings that you had when you did that last backup. · Make a backup before you install a new program. If everything works fine afterwards,make another one. ********************************************************************************** Additional features: ******************* Automated Backup: In addition to autonotice , ERS32 V1.7 has a new option where you can schedule ERS32 to do one backup using System agent or any other scheduler. When setting up your scheduler select ERSauto.exe in stead of ERS32bits.exe. On execution a new folder named "Auto" will be created in the ERS directory. and a batchfile named "ersauto.bat" in the root of your startupdisk. Don't use ERSauto.exe as a shortcut in the Startup folder. If you do not want to use a scheduler you can use Autonotice. Autonotice: It gives you an *automatic reminder to make a backup if all your backups are older then 1 day. If you have already made a backup on that day nothing will happen. To make use of "Autonotice" select Option from the menu and click on "Use Autonotice". A shortcut for the ERSpopup.exe will be created in your startup folder. To disable Autonotice click "Use Autonotice" again. Autonotice will be enabled the next time you start Windows. *Note: Autonotice will not respond if all slots are empty ! ************************************************************************************ ERS32 V1.7 updated 5/29/97