Unprotect IBM Assistant Series of Programs IBM Writing Assistant Version 1.01 Two versions of IBM Writing Assistant are available on your original program disks. One version is used if you have 128K and another version is used for 256K or more of available RAM. First determine which one is on your working copy disk. TYPE DIR WRITE.* 128K will display WRITE.EXE WRITE.SWP 256K will display WRITE.EXE WRITE.NON First copy all files to another disk and put your working copy away--copy a:*.* b:/v. (I know, you NEVER screw up, but do it anyway). Let's start with the 128K (165,376 byte) version. A>RENAME WRITE.EXE WRITE A>DEBUG WRITE -U 1314 You will see the following, if not type Q and call it a day. XXXX:1314 CD13 INT 13 XXXX:1316 B80102 MOV AX,0201 XXXX:1319 CD13 INT 13 XXXX:131B 721F JB 133C XXXX:131D 81C30002 ADD BX,0200 XXXX:1321 B80102 MOV AX,0201 XXXX:1324 CD13 INT 13 XXXX:1326 7210 JB 1338 XXXX:1328 8A8711FE MOV AL,[BX+FE11] XXXX:132C 324711 XOR AL,[BX+11] XXXX:132F 3C74 CMP AL,74 etc... Type in the following at the (-) prompt -e 1314 90 90 90 90 -e 1324 90 90 -e 132F 39 C0 -w (debug will respond with 'Writing 28600 bytes') -q A>RENAME WRITE WRITE.EXE All set, now for the 256K (163,328 byte) version. A>RENAME WRITE.EXE WRITE A>DEBUG WRITE -U 2B14 You will see the following, if not type Q and call it a day. XXXX:2B14 CD13 INT 13 XXXX:2B16 B80102 MOV AX,0201 XXXX:2B19 CD13 INT 13 XXXX:2B1B 721F JB 2B3C XXXX:2B1D 81C30002 ADD BX,0200 XXXX:2B21 B80102 MOV AX,0201 XXXX:2B24 CD13 INT 13 XXXX:2B26 7210 JB 2B38 XXXX:2B28 8A8711FE MOV AL,[BX+FE11] XXXX:2B2C 324711 XOR AL,[BX+11] XXXX:2B2F 3C74 CMP AL,74 etc... Type in the following at the (-) prompt -e 2B14 90 90 90 90 -e 2B24 90 90 -e 2B2F 39 C0 -w (debug will respond with 'Writing 27E00 bytes') -q A>RENAME WRITE WRITE.EXE You now have an unprotected version of IBM Writing Assistant and can now copy the files onto a bootable disk. The WRITE.EXE file will no longer look for the hidden files on drive A. This was a problem before as we were stuck with a 320K formatted disk with no room for the operating system to be installed. It is important to keep the appropriate file (WRITE.SWP or WRITE.NON) with the WRITE.EXE file. IBM Filing, Reporting and Graphing Assistant Programs The proceedure for unprotecting these is similar to that used for Writing Assistant (the 128k version) as the protection scheme used is identical (at least in my versions). Now for Filing Assistant (where FILE.EXE is 72,546 bytes) A>RENAME FILE.EXE FILE A>DEBUG FILE -U 1718 You will see the following, if not type Q and call it a day. XXXX:1718 CD13 INT 13 XXXX: B80102 MOV AX,0201 XXXX: CD13 INT 13 XXXX: 721F JB 2B3C XXXX: 81C30002 ADD BX,0200 XXXX: B80102 MOV AX,0201 XXXX:1728 CD13 INT 13 XXXX: 7210 JB 2B38 XXXX: 8A8711FE MOV AL,[BX+FE11] XXXX: 324711 XOR AL,[BX+11] XXXX:1733 3C74 CMP AL,74 etc... Type in the following at the (-) prompt -e 1718 90 90 90 90 -e 1728 90 90 -e 1733 39 C0 -w (debug will respond with 'Writing 11B62 bytes') -q A>RENAME FILE FILE.EXE Now for Reporting Assistant (where REPORT.EXE is 79,872 bytes) A>RENAME REPORT.EXE REPORT A>DEBUG REPORT -U 1518 You will see the following, if not type Q and call it a day. XXXX:1518 CD13 INT 13 XXXX: B80102 MOV AX,0201 XXXX: CD13 INT 13 XXXX: 721F JB 2B3C XXXX: 81C30002 ADD BX,0200 XXXX: B80102 MOV AX,0201 XXXX:1528 CD13 INT 13 XXXX: 7210 JB 2B38 XXXX: 8A8711FE MOV AL,[BX+FE11] XXXX: 324711 XOR AL,[BX+11] XXXX:1533 3C74 CMP AL,74 etc... Type in the following at the (-) prompt -e 1518 90 90 90 90 -e 1528 90 90 -e 1533 39 C0 -w (debug will respond with 'Writing 13800 bytes') -q A>RENAME REPORT REPORT.EXE And finally for Graphing Assistant (125,440 bytes) A>RENAME GRAPH.EXE GRAPH A>DEBUG GRAPH -U 5DA6 You will see the following, if not type Q and call it a day. XXXX:5DA6 CD13 INT 13 XXXX: B80102 MOV AX,0201 XXXX: CD13 INT 13 XXXX: 721F JB 2B3C XXXX: 81C30002 ADD BX,0200 XXXX: B80102 MOV AX,0201 XXXX:5DB6 CD13 INT 13 XXXX: 7210 JB 2B38 XXXX: 8A8711FE MOV AL,[BX+FE11] XXXX: 324711 XOR AL,[BX+11] XXXX:5DC1 3C74 CMP AL,74 etc... Type in the following at the (-) prompt -e 5DA6 90 90 90 90 -e 5DB6 90 90 -e 5DC1 39 C0 -w (debug will respond with 'Writing 1EA00 bytes') -q A>RENAME GRAPH GRAPH.EXE That's all there is to it! Now you can rearrange the programs, make bootable disks, run from a ram disk or whatever. As always, if this doesn't work to your satisfaction, you have no recourse so please perform this on a DISKCOPY version of your software and not your distribution disk. Much thanks to whoever figured out the Writing Assistant Unprotection as I only applied the same logic to the remainder of the series.