THD ProScan Version 10m Beta ---------------------------- THD ProScan is still free, but please read "DONATE.PLS" as you may be able to help me out in a way other than sending cash donations. This version of THD ProScan is a "BETA" or "pre-release" of version 10.0. It by no means contains the same features as the finished version 10 is intended to. More accurately, it is a version 9.5 (version 9 with some of the changes intended for version 10 although it will identify itself as being among the "10" series, since all beta's after an official release will always announce themselves as the next version, or a subset thereof). In fact one of the reasons for releasing this beta(pre-release) is the belief that the next release is going to be considerably longer in coming than have past releases (it has already taken longer than most previous releases). Hopefully this will tide those impatient people over until I can complete version 10.0.. Most of the work put into this beta has been "behind the scenes", and very few "user noticeable" features have been added. The purpose to this point has been to improve the code internally and to fix a very few sore points. Not all points have been addressed, but functionally (if it works ) this version should exceed the reliability of version 9.1. IMPORTANT --------- Please keep in mind that this is BETA software, which means that it is NOT FULLY TESTED. As with any release, I accept no responsibility for the actions of the program. Use of this or any product from PainSoft (past present or future) is done solely at your own risk. It is being released as an interim solution to a few minor (or potential) problems. As beta software, it is relatively untested (it has undergone the typical alpha and stage 1 beta testing without any reported problems). However, be warned that since it has not been fully tested, it may or may not react as specified or expected. Also note that the configuration format used by this beta has been significantly changed (internally) and may or may not be recognized by the official release. For these reasons it would be a good idea to keep your fully configured THDPRO.EXE from version 9.1 in a safe place until such time as the official release of version 10.0. (version 10.0 will recognize any "official" release's configuration from version 6.0 onward) Some of the things changed and/or repaired in this beta include... Changes to the search routines will hopefully fix the incompatibility with the OS/2 Service Pack. Testing on a few sites, indicates that problem has been solved. Version 9.1 sometimes did not add a file comment to the finished archive when conversion was completed. Users of RemoteAccess could not use THDPRO.EXE from RAMGR due to an incorrect filemode which caused THD to be denied access to necessary files. This same scenario caused problems on occasion when attempting to update the FDB in regards to description and/or filename after a conversion. ************************************************************ ** It is important that SHARE (or equivalent environment) ** ** be loaded when manipulating the FDB since RAMGR does ** ** leave the FDB files open upon exit to dos. ** ************************************************************ THDPRO.EXE no longer attempts to send output to the comport if carrier is lost. On some systems this seemed to cause problems. Rejection of files based on "DATE" was not functioning correctly (any file later than the year 0019 was considered valid). A new addition to the THDOPT env variable switches. Use of THDOPT=SC2 will change the commandline sent by THD ProScan to SCAN.EXE for compatibility with SCANV200. I STRONGLY recommend that you do not use the BETA version of scan for normal virus detection. This switch is for FUTURE use and not for use with the SCAN beta. (SC2 may be used in conjunction with any of the other THDOPT switches as outlined in the THDPRO91 docs.) Note that the switches used by this beta in "SCAN 2 compatible mode" comply ONLY with the version distributed by McAfee as "SCNR200A.ZIP". If McAfee changes their command line structure from that beta, THD may likely not remain compatible with future versions. In this event, contact David Muir at 1:259/423.0 fido_net for a "possible" solution. (No solution is "promised", but it is likely that unless a new release is scheduled soon after such notice, that a small utility will be created to change the configuration internal to THDPRO.EXE for compatibility with the new switches.) The planned "add-on" configuration in version 9.1 turned out to be incorrectly coded which resulted in it's inability to pass the needed information to the subprocess (not yet coded). Finished archive dates have been a real stickler. There are many different views as to what the finished file date "should" be. In an effort to expand on the two choices previously offered, this beta adds two more. These two options will only be applied to valid archives and not to GIF/TD0 or other non archives. (Non archives will be left with their date at time of upload.) NEWEST "DATE" Option -------------------- A new option to date the finished archive to the date of the newest file found inside of that archive has been added. It is recommend that this option be used if you wish the original file date and have a reasonable chance of having removed all BBS ads which might have been added to the archive. This date is calculated AFTER files are removed by THDPRO.EXE, so if all ads are removed, this will give a fairly accurate representation of the original file date. BEST GUESS "DATE" option... --------------------------- This option, like the one above is intended to give an approximation of the original file date. This option should be used when BBS ads are not removed as a standard practice, as this will rarely give the newest date but will give a good approximation where there is a chance that files have been added after the original archive creation. It is a "best guess" at when the archive was "likely" originally created. Since there is no way to determine this "accurately", this option attempts a guess. The guess is based on an average date of the newest 5 (or fewer) files in the archive's main directory. If you choose to use the "best guess" method, then the following will apply. - If no files are found in the "main" directory, the archive date will be set to match the timestamp it had at the time of upload. - If only a single file is found, that file's date will be used. - Where more than one file is located, the finished archive date will match the file who's date is closest to the average date calculated. - Dates of files in subdirectories will not be used for this calculation. While I can never guarantee the original file date will be duplicated, this method will likely come close (or at least give a reasonable estimate). But it is only a guess. Neither of these date options will currently update RA's FDB UNLESS other changes are made by THD in regards to the FDB. This will "likely" change in future to be done regardless of other needs to update the FDB. Added 3 user definable conversion levels... ------------------------------------------- Three new conversion levels have been introduced. These "new" conversion levels are user definable based on a number of criteria (they are levels 4, 5, and 6 respectively). The following are the criteria on which conversion may be based, and any of these conditions may be true or false as selected by the THD user (all imbedded selections will default to false if conversion of imbedded archives is bypassed). Convert Imbedded archives Convert Self extracting archives (main archive) Convert Self extracting archives (imbedded archive) Convert files with incorrect names (main) Convert files with incorrect names (imbedded) Convert AV protected (Arj Secured) files (main) Convert AV protected (Arj Secured) files (imbedded) Convert archives of same type (both) Please note that if you choose to not convert archives of same type via this final option, then a "ZIP" will not be converted or expanded for conversion (if zip is the type to be converted to). As a result, if that file contains ARJ or other archives types internally, they will not be converted either. An "incorrect" name (for the purposes of conversion) is any extension other than "EXE" (for SFX archives) or the proper archive extension for the given type. (Compressed mail packets would fall into this category.) Default command line options.. ------------------------------ THDINSTL now offers the option of setting some "default" switches. You may default THD ProScan to... CONVERT ONLY (/CO) KEEP ORIGINAL (/KO) Skip the modification of descriptions (/NODESC) Choose a default archive type/level for conversion. (TO???#) in effect... If one configured THDINSTL with defaults of CONVERT ONLY KEEP ORIGINAL TOZIP0 then the result of running THDPRO.EXE C:\TEST\TESTFILE.ZIP 2 would be identical to running THDPRO.EXE C:\TEST\TESTFILE.ZIP /CO /KO TOZIP0 2 These defaults will "ALL" be ignored if anything except a file path\name and a valid comport are sent on the command line. Major overhaul of LHA Handling... --------------------------------- And finally a major overhaul to the way LHA files are handled. This version will attempt to discern if the file is expandable on a dos based system (and if not simply CRC test it). It will also diagnose any attempt of an LHA file to make use of the root directory. If a file so attempts, THDPRO.EXE will create a "clone" of the file which does not make such attempts and test the clone instead (all files are kept intact, just path usage is modified). During conversion mode, the "clone" will be used as the basis for the conversion. (it will produce the same converted file since the other archivers abhor the use of the root directory). Any file which THD cannot successfully diagnose will be assumed to be valid and testing will continue as usual (since there are a number of variables which could affect the file without affecting the ability to properly extract the internal files). A note will be made in the log in these instances. THDTERM 5.A ----------- Also included in this archive is a new THDTERM (it too is a beta). This version goes out of it's way to not test volume labels (version 4 could do this on some OS/2 systems). As well it now avoids the duplicate testing which was documented as "normal" with Version 4.0. Other than that it remains basically unchanged. This beta of THDTERM has one KNOWN problem. ------------------------------------------- THDTERM 5.A will have difficulties when files are converted as the default action of THDPRO.EXE. It will be unable to find the original file (since it has been converted) and may report errors that are non- existent. Thereafter reporting "no problem" since THDPRO will exit with an errorlevel of "0". The problem lies in that THDTERM will "report" an error and not move the "converted" file to the correct location. This beta version contains no official documentation. Nor does it contain any of the files normally distributed/associated with THD ProScan's official releases. Persons desiring the files normally associated with THD ProScan, should look for THDPRO91.ZIP which was the last official release of the program. Generally, users of RemoteAccess should find this beta to run smoother than version 9.1. and it "should" run just a tiny bit faster (although on any given system, the difference would likely be unnoticeable). Note that due to the new diagnostic phase for LHA files, that it will in fact take longer to process these files than previous versions, but will do so in a more secure manner and help to avoid some types of failures eminent with the older versions. A great number of internal changes have been made which for the most part will be invisible to the usership. The operation should appear as it always has (with the exception of the LHA diagnostic/cloning process when needed). ******************************************************* * Any number of other fixes/changes may have been * * implemented in this beta which are not listed here. * ******************************************************* Sysops offering this archive for download are asked to please keep THDPRO91.* available so that users do have access to the last official release. Likewise, those offering THD ProScan by FREQ are asked to allow this archive by the magic name of THDBETA while leaving the official release with the magic name of THDPRO. Your co-operation in this respect would be greatly appreciated. Please keep in mind that this is not the "coming" THD ProScan Version 10.0.. That version is still in the works (this is a partially completed version 10). As a result many of the suggestions on my three page list have not yet been implemented. Basically, this means that the expected version 10 will likely contain a few new/useful toys that this and previous versions have not. This also means that it's not too late to have your suggestions incorporated into the next version. Suggestions and or comments should be sent to David Muir at 1:259/423 (fido). Also note that some suggestions may not be implemented for any number of reasons. But all suggestions are welcome (and encouraged). If you experience difficulty with this version, I would also like to hear about it, so that I may endeavour to repair those problems in the official release. Thank you. My thanks to the beta testers of this version of THD ProScan. Mark Kerr 2:443/59 John Barton 2:257/168 Andrew McKay unlisted Erik Coolen 2:281/909 Kosta Berjitsky 3:712/539 Don Johnson 1:104/531 Bernie Schau 1:138/155 Vicki Fletcher 1:138/255 Mike Smith & Rita Smith 1:208/409 Tim Strike 1:259/423 Eugene Chin 1:259/322 Neil Dempster 1:250/346 Scott Ferguson 1:300/603 Gary Hammer 1:355/24 PainSoft David Muir... Author THD ProScan.