PC DiskMaster is up to v.99i! Download it below.
Emailware (freeware with email registration) Windows Utilities are below.
Note for users of Windows 2000 - To install DiskMaster you need only download the "Upgrade" item below which contains the EXE for Diskmaster, a readme.txt file and a single OCX file (threed.ocx) which you will need to copy to your \WINNT\SYSTEM32 path, and then from a DOS prompt execute "regsvr32 threed32.ocx". Then just put the DiskMaster executable where you want it installed and create a shortcut.
Welcome to
Power Tools, for Power-Users
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versions
For those of you familiar with the Commodore Amiga
line of personal computers you may remember an excellent utility called DiskMaster.
This was one of the original "Swiss Army Knife" utilities, in that it could do
file and directory management, as well as play sound effects, and view images. It
also used a dual-window pane approach that is still almost unequaled in terms of speed and
efficiency. I always yearned for a program like this for the PC, but haven't seen any that
are as easy to use or as fast for daily chores, so I wrote one! I have designed my
PC DiskMaster to have many of the same features as the original DiskMaster on the Amiga,
but for the PC! The program can perform directory and file maintenance
(create dirs, delete, copy, move, rename dir/files) as well as format floppies, play
WAV, MID, RMI and AVI files, and view BMP, GIF and JPG images! The
dual-paned windows give you fast and easy access, unlike some windowing environments that
force you to do file maintenance in multiple overlapping windows. Multiple files may
be selected for many tasks including renames and protection settings. Several
features make PC DiskMaster even faster and more efficient:
"Send Path To" buttons on the inside of each windowpane allows you to easily send the
current path for a pane to the other side since many management chores take place at or
near the same path.
High-speed dual-paned user interface speeds file and directory management chores.
Shortcuts and alternative ways of performing tasks means PC DiskMaster is geared to allow
you to work in the way that suits you best. For example image/sound files can be loaded by
single-clicking the image/sound and clicking the PlaySnd button, by double-clicking the
sound/image file (or any other type for that matter), or by scrolling up and down a
listing with the cursor keys and pressing Enter. Once viewing an image you can exit with a
mouse click or by pressing ESC.
Cumulative wildcards allow you to flag multiple wildcards in the same selection for a single
operation. (imagine a directory of 1,000 images, with BMP, GIF, JPG, EXE, TXT, etc
scattered in it - with this feature you could do cumulative wildcards of *.BMP, *.GIF and
*.JPG and either move or copy (or delete) just the files you want in one operation!)
Inverse wildcards allow you to select everything *but* the wildcard you specify! This
is an incredibly useful feature I've never seen anywhere else, but I've always yearned for
from the days of DOS (except DOS itself didn't even have this ability!). This allows you to enter a single wildcard and immediately
select everything *except* those that match the wildcard you specify. Take the image
directory example above. Maybe you want to keep the BMP (or even BMPs that start
with SE (SE*.BMP)) files in the directory, but move (or delete) all the rest of the files
from that directory. How could you do that quickly without inverse wildcards?
Answer: You can't! With PC DiskMaster's unique inverse wildcard feature enter an
inverse wildcard of *.BMP and instantly everything but the *.BMP files is selected and
ready for operation.
Natively handles MID, RMI, AVI, WAV, BMP, GIF and JPG file formats. Slideshow of
image files with user-specified time-delay.
Launches all
other registered file types with associated executable meaning all your favorite utilities
can be accessed by double-clicking on their type of file.
Forced Text Viewing command button for non-registered file types allows you to immediately
view a file as text if you know it contains text. For example a .CFG file or a
proprietary application extension that is not normally associated as a text file.
You can even view binary files this way to extract useful information.
Total Resize Ability allows you to change PC DiskMaster to suit your screen size and
resolution. It will adapt itself on startup so that it is appropriately sized for
your resolution, and then you can tweak it up or down as you like.
Intelligent Design means effort-savings abound in all areas of the program.
Honor ReadOnly setting that allows power-users to ignore read-only protection, getting rid of
the infamous "Are you really sure you want to delete this file?" or leave
it enabled and protect those files without slowing the operation in progress. If you
attempt to delete files, some of which are marked ReadOnly and some of which are not and
have Honor ReadOnly enabled, the files not protected will all be deleted and only at the
end of the procedure will you be alerted that some of the files you selected were
protected and thus were not deleted.
Registry-based saving of all program
preferences including settings for what filetypes will be
visible in PC DiskMaster, whether Honor ReadOnly is enabled, whether deletes will go to
the Recycle Bin or be wiped immediately from the drive, and foreground (text) and
background color choices.
Want to know what's new/changed in PC
DiskMaster? Click here to
read the update history of PCDM up to the latest downloadable version (also in the
readme.txt installed with PCDM package).
You will need
the following support files (you may have them already if running Windows 98 or have previously installed them for other VB5 apps). Get them here.
MSVBVM50.DLL, OLEAUT32.DLL, OLEPRO32.DLL, STDOLE2.TLB, ASYCFILT.DLL,
COMCAT.DLL (This is a one-time self-extracting/self-running install of Visual Basic
5 run-time support files which you will do only once (and will be needed for other VB5
apps that you obtain in the future too). Install this file before running the PC
DiskMaster SETUP.EXE or you will get an error. (Note - this install is needed with Windows 95, NT
and most 98 machines. Windows 2000 machines do not need this download.)
Note - If you are
installing PCDM over an existing install use the Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs to
remove the existing install before running the new SETUP.EXE (or just get the Exe-only
upgrade archive below).
Download a version of PC DiskMaster for Win95/98/NT4. This is a self-extracting
file. After extracting the files run SETUP.EXE to install PC DiskMaster. Note - you
will receive an error if you attempt to install PCDM over an existing install. This will
not cause any problems but you may confuse yourself. Use Control Panel/Add-Remove programs
to remove an existing version before installing a new (full package) one. The better
answer if you already have a full version installed is to get the EXE-only upgrade below.
During install you may receive a message relating to the TAHOMA.TTF font file. If you
receive such a message ignore it as it merely indicates you already have that font
installed on your system.
If you have already done a full install of a
previous version of PC DiskMaster (or are running Windows 2000), get the updated EXE only (and copy it over the existing
one) here. Windows 2000 users - a full install of PC DiskMaster for you will consist of this "Upgrade" version and the file threed32.ocx for a full install of PC DiskMaster. Once Windows 2000 users extract the EXE and readme.txt from the Upgrade archive, simply copy the EXE to where you'd like it and create a shortcut to it, copy threed32.ocx to \WINNT\SYSTEM32 and then open a DOS prompt, CD to \WINNT\SYSTEM32 and type "regsvr32 threed32.ocx"
Free Windows Utilities Section
RDelete is a command-line utility (that can also be run from within BAT files or from a Windows shortcut) that plugs a hole in DOS's abilities. RDelete allows you to specify an individual filename or wildcard mask and have them removed from anywhere on a device on your system. For example with one command (rdelete c:\ *.tmp) you can wipe out all the .TMP files from your C: drive. You can also be more discriminate and remove the files in question from specific branches of your drive. For example to remove all the files starting with "co", and ending with ".exe" from the subdirectory branch C:\MYSTUFF on down you would issue the command "rdelete c:\mystuff co*.exe". RDelete also supports a final switch at the end - add an 's' to the end for silent operation.
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
DateIt is a command-line utility that will allow you, from within BAT files or manually, to "timestamp" the date an operation took place. When run, DateIt obtains the current date from the system and creates a *file* with the name being the date it was run. Quite useful for background jobs that you need to know ran successfully or not.
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
Switch is a command-line utility that will allow you, from within BAT files or manually, to replace one string with another. For example running "switch c:\windows\myfile.ini OldString newstring" would replace (case-sensitive) "OldString" with "newstring".
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
FTPBatch is a command-line utility that will allow you, from within BAT files or manually, to automatically transfer files to or from a remote server via FTP. This can be very handy for people who have regular transfers (say nightly) that need to take place in an automated fashion. Under Windows NT the appropriate command can be put into a BAT or CMD file and scheduled to run on a regular basis with the NT 'at' command. Under Windows 95/98 the same can be done and scheduled with the Windows Task Scheduler (on your systray at the bottom-left).
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
PopKey is a nifty utility. Have you ever found yourself constantly typing the same thing, over and over again? Things like signatures in newsgroups, web discussion areas, chat rooms or funny pieces of text (or even things like long domain names, or web addresses)? If so, then PopKey is your answer. You can put as many of these text items into your PopKey.txt file (each as long as you like for them to be) and then with a single keyboard combination you can instantly put any of those item's text into any application you're using at any time. You will be prompted for which text item you want PopKey to insert and then the text will be inserted in the foreground application whether it be Word, Netscape, a chat window, wherever! It's pretty fun to watch as it looks like a ghost is typing on your keyboard. It's very easy to configure and use and quite useful for those of us who don't type 120 words a minute, or just want to save those snippets for later automatic use. Also excellent for tagline collectors who snag clever taglines for their own use later - snag em and pop them into your PopKey.txt file for instant access to them at any time! An alternate version of PopKey that does not generate any ENTER keypresses is also available just below the normal one... it's for people who need to enter text into web pages that would interpret the ENTER key as "I'm done" or other applications. Grab the one you need.
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
DateSet is a utility for retrieving the system date or time and using it from within your DOS shell or a BAT file. This is great for things like renaming log files with the current date or time, or for creating datestamp files to indicate that a process has run successfully. Easy to use, you just install the EXE, then call it and the BAT file it creates to set the environment variables for later use anywhere in your script or at the command-line. Easy docs are in the readme.txt file.
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
FileZero is a utility for determining whether a file is zero-length or not from within a BAT file. Many internet utilities may create an empty zero-length file while they download. Once you know the file's status you can then take action within the BAT file based on that information. If you need an automatic way to wait for a file to change from zero-length to non-zero FileZero can do it for you. See the readme.txt for more information and example usage.
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
Recurse fills yet another gap in DOS - the ability to recursively process the contents of a text file by way of a batch process (BAT). For example let's say you get a list of usernames, and for every name you want to disable their accounts after they have left the company. You could do it manually, one at a time, either from the GUI or command-line. That might even be a good idea if there are only 5 or 10 of them. But what if you have 100? 1000? Even with normal command-line tools you could have trouble. With Recurse what was difficult or impossible becomes easy. Simply create the BAT file you'd like to use and write it in such a way that it accepts arguments from the command-line. Then create (or export from whatever source you got the list from - email, spreadsheet) your TXT file with your list of items to be processed and run recurse. Full instructions and an example are included in the readme.txt file.
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
Sequencer allows you to stage executables in your BAT file programming. Perhaps you want a Windows task to launch from your BAT file but you want the rest of the BAT file to wait for that app to finish before continuing. Since DOS is ignorant of the Windows environment, and launching a Windows app "frees" the DOS command interpreter, execution normally carries on right away, which can make timing these things difficult. Enter Sequencer. Simply copy Sequencer.exe to somewhere in your PATH (95/98/ME - C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND NT/2000 - C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32) and then, in your BAT file, make the call to your first Windows app, followed immediately by a call to Sequencer with a unique portion (or all) of the window name of that app. Execution will stop in your BAT file until Sequencer returns, which it will not do until the first app quits.
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
Count is a utility to help you perform math functions within a BAT script. If you've ever lamented the fact that DOS BAT files can't perform the simplest math operations such as incrementing a value each time through a procedure Count is for you! Count can perform all standard math functions - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Count can work with integers (whole numbers like "4" or "-9") or can work with floating point numbers (numbers containing a decimal place like "4.32" or "123.65").
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
ProcessByDate
is a utility to help you process files based on last access date. Say you
want to move all files older than 15 days from a directory with a script.
With normal DOS this is not easily done (if possible at all). With
ProcessByDate you can move the files that match the age you specify quickly and
easily. Self-documenting as all my apps are, additional information on
usage is also in the readme.txt file included.
It's FREE - emailware - all I ask is that you send me an email to let me know you downloaded it, and what you think of it.
Comments or questions? Email to: bitbucket911@attbi.com
My credentials - CNA3, CNE4, CNE5, MCP+I, MCSE, CCSA, CCSE, A.A.Sc., B.A.
Lifetime Certified Teacher (7th-12th grades) in the subjects of Psychology and Computer Science.
PC DiskMaster is available at many fine locations
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