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New in 1.05
===========

Another new Web address, so no longer putting it in the initial screen.

New in 1.04
===========

Just a new Web address in the initial screen.

New in 1.03
===========

With the advent of Scorch, the fast foreground secure
deletion utility from the same author, it became necessary
to provide communications between Scorch and Real Delete so
that Real Delete would not try to repeat the overwriting
that Scorch had just performed.

Various documentation and cosmetic changes were also made.

New in 1.02
===========

In 1.00 and 1.01, deleting any file larger than about 32
megabytes in size would fail with a "Divide Overflow" error.
No one ever reported this problem, probably because files
that big are seldom found, but I decided to fix it in
version 1.02 anyway.

The /valid switch in 1.01 stopped Real Delete setting date
and time on deleted files to midnight, January 1, 1980, but
DOS was automatically updating the date/time to the current
date/time at the time of the delete when the overwriting
file writes took place.  Also, the file size was being
rounded up to the next cluster boundary by the slack space
clearing feature.  In 1.02, the original file date/time and
size are preserved when the /valid switch is used.  This is
for those who don't want deleted entries in their
directories to show evidence of a "wipe" utility having been
in use.

In 1.01, a feature was added to clear dirty buffer and slack
cluster space on file close (int 21h function 3eh).  This
operated only on files which had been written to since they
had been opened, which would usually mean that the file
date/time would already have been updated to the current
date/time.

However, when the command line interpreter processes a COPY
command, it copies the date/time of the old file to the new
one, so the copy has the same date and time as the original.
Real Delete's intervention was causing the file's date/time
to be updated to the current date/time when the file was
closed.  Version 1.02 has been altered to behave the way
people have come to expect when the COPY command is used, so
the old date and time are retained on copies of files.

I have had several requests to have Real Delete blank the
filename when files are deleted, so it does not appear in
the deleted directory entry.  There are technical reasons
why this is not straightforward in a TSR (have a look at
the way the FCB wildcard delete works), so I haven't tried
to do it.  There isn't a lot of point in people continuing
to ask for this unless they simultaneously come up with a
great new idea regarding motivation.


New in 1.01
===========

There is a new function to use Real Delete in the
foreground, to expunge a single named file, rather than go
memory resident.  This allows those who only have occasional
need for secure deletion to use Real Delete's superior
facilities on sensitive material without having to give up
the ability to undelete everyday files that might be
accidentally deleted.  Foreground operation is performed by
specifying the filespec of the file to be expunged on the
command line, enclosed in square brackets, thus:

realdeal [c:\dir\filename]

Wildcards are not allowed in the filespec, and neither are
square bracket characters.  The specified file (if it
exists) will be overwritten to Real Delete's military
security level by default.  If you wish to use a different
level of security, you can specify it by adding the usual
command line switches.  For instance, to use the personal
level, plus the random garbage feature for use with disk
compression, you would enter:

realdeal [c:\dir\filename] /per /garb

The use of square brackets is to prevent accidental erasure
of files by people who are playing around without having
read the documentation.  There is no further backstop to
save you from yourself, no "Are you completely sure?"
message or the like.  If you type this command, it will just
do it.

Real Delete now clears dirty buffer and slack cluster space
on file close (int 21h function 3eh).  It also clears the
truncated portion of file on file truncate (int 21h function
40h with cx=0).  This is to stop data being left lying
around in abandoned sectors when files are edited, since
such sectors will not be overwritten by a subsequent delete.
These trap the handle functions only, not the equivalent
ones using FCBs, which are now obsolete and seldom used.
The overwrite will be performed to the same security level
selected for delete.  These options can be turned off by
specifying the /delonly switch when Real Delete is run.

Real Delete now Sets date and time on deleted files to
midnight, January 1, 1980, unless the /valid switch is used.
Why?  Someone asked for it and it was easy to do.

=========================================================
Copyright (c) Iolo Davidson - September 1994 - April 1999
=========================================================



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