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		      Startest 1.0 - MBR\boot tracker- A. Zancan (C) 1999

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Startest 1.0 is subject to the terms detailed in the disclaimer accompanying it.



		     Startest 1.0 Readme.txt file


	       What is Startest 1.0 ................1
	  
	       Installing Startest 1.0..............2

	       Using Startest 1.0...................3

	       Disclaimers..........................4



Section 1
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Startest 1.0 is a Giftware Program and is provided without any limitation at no charge to the
user for evaluation. If you find this program fast, convenient and useful and wish to continue
to use it please send a 3$ or 3 Euro donation to the UNICEF or to your National Red Cross.
You will contribute to saving children of war zones all over the world.
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The purpose of this program is to enhance the antivirus action against boot viruses and an 
early code identification of new viruses.

When computer starts, it reads informations stored into first sectors of the hard disk, due 
to the importance of such information for a correct system startup.
Many viruses take advantage of this mechanism in order to be loaded into memory at every PC
startup and take control of the machine: in this way they can replicate themselves and infect
as many computers as possible.

One of the most important conditions for viral programs diffusion is secrecy. A virus infact
needs a silent period, during which it copies itself and infects as much PCs as possible,
before explicating its destructive task. Only after this moment the virus will be recognized
as a problem and the search for the malicious program will start.
Early recognizing of the presence of dangerous viruses affecting critical parts as the boot
sector or the partition table could make harder for viral programs the secrecy they need. 

For this reason every times Statest 1.0 is run, a memory scanning is made with a further 
comparison between current MBR and boot sectors and the configuration detected during previous
loading of Startest 1.0, alerting for changes. 
The program extracts then the added or changed code in hexadecimal format, offering in this way
the possibility of isolation and catalogation of a suspect viral code (infact there is normally
no reason for boot sector changing). Moreover the code can be added to antivirus scanners data
base in order to be able to perform files scanning.

In this way a suspect unknown virus infection can be early detected and notified to technicians, 
helping in antivirus battle.

The program has been tested and works under DOS, Windows 3.x or Windows 95 operating system.
If you want to contact the author please use this e-mail address:  zancart@tin.it
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Section 2
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Feel free to copy this version of Startest 1.0 and distribute it to your friends. 
If you do so, you must provide them with the entire set of Startest 1.0 version files, without 
modificate them in any way.
These include:

STARTEST.EXE  <---- executable file
READ_1ST.TXT  <---- text file
LEGGIMI!.TXT  <---- text file 
STARTEST.ICO  <---- Startest icon
STARTEST.PIF  <---- program information file

To install the program simply copy the files in a directory of your choice.
(better if the directory is included in your config path).
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Section 3
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For first usage of the program simply type STARTEST if you are in DOS environment, or double 
click on Startest.exe in Windows environment.
If you want to place an icon onto your desktop you can use the provided file startest.ico. 

NO CHANGES WILL BE DONE TO YOUR SYSTEM.

Once boot sectors of your system have been mirrored, you can read the hexadecimal and ASCII copy
of partition table and boot sector just reading files MBR.1ST and DBR.1ST in STARTEST directory,
using a text editor.
Every time you run Startest 1.0 copies of current configuration will be done using files 
MBRNOW.TXT, DBRNOW.TXT and MEMNOW.TXT; if any change will be found between previous 
configuration and the current one, the program will display changes and log files MBR_VIR.TXT, 
BOOT_VIR.TXT or MEM_LOG.TXT will be updated, so you will be able to read the changed or added 
code and date\time of scanning.

RUN STARTEST 1.0 ON EVERY PC STARTUP ADDING "STARTEST" LINE TO YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE
( DOS) OR CREATING AN ICON IN STARTUP GROUP OF PROGRAM  MANAGER ( WINDOWS 3.X ) OR IN 
AUTOMATIC EXECUTION FOLDER ( WINDOWS 95 ).


Section 4
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					    DISCLAIMER
 
THIS SOFTWARE AND ACCOMPANYING WRITTEN MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND. 
THE AUTHOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL,CONSEQUENTIAL,INDIRECT OR SIMILAR 
DAMAGES DUE TO LOSS OF DATA OR ANY OTHER REASON.
THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE.
USE OF THIS PACKAGE CONSTITUTES AGREEMENT ON THE PART OF THE USER TO THIS DISCLAIMER.

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