Xen V1.5 by Paul Brown Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec 2000
compatible with 95/98/98SE/ME/NT/2000
WHAT IS XEN ?
Xen is specially written to cleanup, backup, tweak and restore your system.
Xen is less than 100k in size and can clean up hundreds of megabytes of useless files.
This program can do many important functions and I suggest you read all these instructions.
Before you start Xen
You will need to copy some commands and programs to your computer, before you run Xen. You can of course
miss some of the supplied commands out e.g. mbrwork and cmos but you will lose some of Xens functionality.
These commands and programs are included with Xen and are in the folder called 'commands'.
Inside the folder 'Commands' are 4 folders :- 'Win9x', 'WinME' 'NT' and '2000'.
'Win9x' folder
If you are running Windows 95,98 or 98SE than you will need to copy some of these commands out of 'Win9x 333x238d ' into your 'Windows\Command' folder :- 'Attrib', 'Choice', 'Cmos', 'Deltree', 'Mbrwork', 'Scandisk', 'Smartdrv' 'Xcopy', 'XCopy32' & 'Scanreg'. You will more than likely have some of these commands already. Next you have to copy 'Cleanmgr' to your 'Windows' folder. You may also already have this on your computer, but this is the latest version that comes with Windows ME and seems to work fine on all Win9x machines.
'WinME' folder
If you are running Windows Windows Millennium you will need to copy some of these commands out of 'WinMe' into your 'Windows\Command' folder:- 'Attrib', 'Choice', 'Cmos', 'Deltree', 'Mbrwork', 'Scandisk', 'Smartdrv' 'Xcopy' & 'Scanreg'. You will more than likely have some of these commands already. Next you have to copy 'CleanMgr' to your 'Windows' folder. You may also already have this on your computer.
'NT' folder
If you are running Windows NT than you will need to copy some of these commands out of 'NT' into your
'Winnt\system32' folder :- 'Choice', 'Cmos', 'Deltree', and 'Mbrwork'. You should already have the commands 'Attrib' and 'Xcopy' installed with NT, but if you havent than you can copy them as well. Next you have to copy 'CleanMgr' to your 'Winnt\system32' folder. This is the latest version that comes with Windows 2000 and seems to work fine on NT.
'2000' folder
If you are running Windows 2000 than you will need to copy some of these commands out of '2000' into your
'Winnt\system32' folder :- 'Choice', 'Cmos', 'Deltree', and 'Mbrwork'. You should already have the commands 'Attrib' and 'Xcopy' installed with 2000, but if you havent than you can copy them from the 'Win9x' folder. You should already have 'Cleanmgr' installed in your 'Winnt\systen32' folder, but if you havent you can install this too.
Customize Xen to match your profile
I have made it easy for you to edit Xen at the top of the batch file, if you have installed Windows etc to a different location than the standard. The paths at the top of Xen are the normal default paths when your system is installed and the only ones you should have to change is the profiles path and the drive backup path. Here are the paths :-
WINDIR - is the location of where you installed Windows
NTDIR - is the location of where you installed NT/2000
PROGS - is the location of your program files folder
ROOT - is beginning of drive you have windows etc installed e.g. c:
BACKUP- is used for option 3c,13c & 23c to specify where you want to backup your entire drive too
PROFILES - is where you have your user profile installed (thats if you use profiles. NT & 2000 always do)
When you have set the path to your user profile you can uncomment out the REM's on steps
2a,2b,12b,22a and 22b. Profiles for step 2a/2b are for Windows 9x and steps 12a/12b are for NT and
22a/22b are for 2000.
Profiles for 9x are kept in %root%\windows\profiles\%user% e.g. SETPROFILES=c:\windows\profiles\paul
Profiles for NT are kept in %root%\winnt\profiles\%user% e.g. SETPROFILES=c:\winnt\profiles\paul
Profiles for 2000 are kept in %root%\documents and settings\%user%
So for 2000 enter 'SET PROFILES=c:\docume~1\paul' - obviously changing paul to match your name
THE STEPS XEN CAN PERFORM
Windows 9x
STEP 1 = Setup, checkup & perform scandisk
STEP 2a = Cleanup of temporary files and all internet files
STEP 2b = Cleanup of Internet cookies
STEP 2c = Cleanup and optimize registry
STEP 2d = Cleanup using Microsoft Cleanup utility
STEP 2e = Cleanup MAJOR spring clean of computer !!!
STEP 3a = Backup registry, files in root, favourites, my documents, pgp keys etc
STEP 3b = Backup of user profiles and files within profiles
STEP 3c = Backup (complete) of one drive to another
STEP 3d = Backup CMOS
STEP 3e = Backup MBR
STEP 4a = Restore registry from last backup
STEP 4b = Restore all user profiles from last backup
STEP 4c = Restore files in root directory from last backup
STEP 4d = Restore CMOS
STEP 4e = Restore MBR
STEP 5a = Security check on drive and removal of some trojans
STEP 5b = Security of all executable attributes
STEP 9 = Defrag of all drives
STEP 10 = Finishing off and closing down batch file
Windows NT
STEP 1 = Setup and check of drives, fixing any errors
STEP 2a = Cleanup of temporary files and all internet files
STEP 2b = Cleanup of Internet cookies
STEP 2c = Cleanup - MAJOR spring clean of computer !!!
STEP 2d = Cleanup using Microsoft Cleanup utility
STEP 3a = Backup registry, files in root, favourites, my documents, pgp keys etc
STEP 3b = Backup of user profiles and files within profiles
STEP 3c = Backup (complete) of one drive to another
STEP 3d = Backup CMOS
STEP 3e = Backup MBR
STEP 4a = Restore registry from last backup
STEP 4b = Restore all user profiles from last backup
STEP 4c = Restore files in root directory from last backup
STEP 4d = Restore CMOS
STEP 4e = Restore MBR
STEP 5a = Security check on drive and removal of some trojans
STEP 5b = Security of all executable attributes
STEP 10 = Finishing off and closing down batch file
Windows 2000
STEP 1 = Setup and check of drives, fixing any errors
STEP 2a = Cleanup of temporary files and all internet files
STEP 2b = Cleanup of Internet cookies
STEP 2c = Cleanup using Microsoft Cleanup utility
STEP 2d = Cleanup - MAJOR spring clean of computer !!!
STEP 3a = Backup registry user profiles, files in root, favourites, my documents, pgp keys etc
STEP 3b = Backup of user profiles and files within documents and settings directory
STEP 3c = Backup (complete) of one drive to another
STEP 3d = Backup CMOS
STEP 3e = Backup MBR
STEP 4a = Restore registry from last backup
STEP 4b = Restore all user profiles from last backup
STEP 4c = Restore files in root directory from last backup
STEP 4d = Restore CMOS
STEP 4e = Restore MBR
STEP 5a = Security check on drive and removal of some trojans
STEP 5b = Security of all executable attributes
STEP 9 = Defrag of all drives
STEP 10 = Finishing off and closing down batch file
THE STEPS IN DETAIL - Win9x, NT & 2000
INITIALISATION
Checks to see if you want to run Xen for Windows 95,98,SE,ME version or goto NT and 2000 version of Xen.
Also checks to see if you have the necessary commands and programs on your computer as described above in the
'Before you start Xen'. If you haven't got the necessary commands and programs than Xen will inform you of this and close down Xen. You will then need to copy the necessary commands to your computer. These commands and programs are included with Xen. You can run this option from Dos or Windows. All 3 versions of Xen are customised for the 3 different operating systems, because they all do things differently.
STEP 1 Setup, checkup & perform scandisk - (or checkdisk for NT/2000 option)
Checks to see if you want to run scandisk. I advise running a scandisk on all your drives before you start Xen.
NT/2000 version will check to see if you want to use checkdisk. I also advise running checkdisk on your drives before starting Xen.
STEP 2a Cleanup of temporary files and all internet files
This option cleans up standard files from Windows & NT/2000 temporary folders e.g Windows\temp. It will delete the default users temporary internet files, default users history, recent history and also netscapes internet cache files. It will also delete when profiles are set at top of Xen temporary internet files and history for that profile. You will have to uncomment out the REM statements when you have changed the top of Xen to match your profile. This option will also delete old virus definitions for Mcafee if you have any and any files in your recycle bins. You can run this option from Dos / Windows / NT / 2000.
STEP 2b Cleanup of cookies
This option will delete your internet cookies for netscape and internet explorer. As above if you have user profiles line set at the top of Xen then you can uncomment out the REM statement as well. Dos or Windows. You can run this option from Dos, Windows/ NT / 2000.
STEP 2c Cleanup and optimise registry - (option only appears on Windows 9x only)
This option will cleanup and optimise your registry. If using this option on Windows 95 than it would be advisable to copy the command 'scanreg' to your commands folder inside windows. You can run this option from Windows but you may have to do a reboot when asked.
STEP 2d Cleanup using microsoft cleanup manager - (Option 2c in NT/2000 version)
Microsoft Cleanup Manager is a small program (about 100k) that is installed as standard on win98, Millennium and 2000 machines but also works fine on Windows 95 and NT machines. It is very good a cleaning out a whole range of temporary files etc from your computer and because I think people should use it more often I have included it as part of this Xen package. You can run this option from inside Windows / NT /2000.
STEP 2e Major cleanup - (Option 2d in NT/2000 version)
This step is aimed at power users only and basically as the saying goes - this option doesn't beat around the bush! It will agressively delete loads of different files that are just sitting on your drive, never being used which are wasting valuable space. You may not want Xen to cleanup your files to the extent that this major cleanup will do on your drive, and that is why I advise you to have a look at what it does and comment out the sections you don't want Xen to use e.g. the font option which puts just the standard fonts back onto your PC. Remember the less crap on your system the shorter a defrag will take and the faster your computer will go. This option will also tune various parts of your system and you should notice a noticeable performance increase. Don't worry if various items come up not found etc as this is perfectly normal. A reboot is advisable after run. Running this option on some peoples machines results in an average saving of well over a gig !!! You can run this option from inside Windows / NT / 2000 first and then run this option a second time but from dos, if possible.
STEP 3a Backup registry and key files
This step will backup your registry, all important files in root directory, your default internet favourites, default documents, PGP keys and other important files. The backup will be found in your root directory in a folder called '_BACKUP'. Inside this folder you will find your operating system e.g. Win9x and sub folders categorised underneath Win9x e.g. Registry, Root, Favourites, MyDocs etc. If you have ran this option before than Xen will have called your old backup into a folder called '_BACKUPOLD'. It will only keep one Old backup folder. This option is extemely useful and I advise you use this option regularly in conjunction with the next option (Step 3b). You could then backup this folder to another drive or cd etc. You will need to run this option from inside Windows / NT / 2000.
STEP 3b Backup user profiles
This option will backup every user profile you have on your computer into your '_BACKUP' foler on your root drive. Using this option will backup everything for that user, including their favourites, documents etc, etc. A note of warning if you have several users on your system this option may take some time as some peoples profiles folder can be of an enormous size ! - I would suggest either pruning down their folders of rubbish and/or just use standard set of user names for access to computer. When this option has run you could copy it to a cd or another drive. You will need to run this option from inside Windows / NT / 2000
STEP 3c Backup from one hard drive to another
This option will backup your entire boot drive to another hard drive and is extemely useful. You will need to change line at top of Xen to represent your backup hard drive e.g. 'SET BACKUP=D:' You must have enough space on your backup drive to accommodate this backup. Get a new hard drive if you havent got enough space. The only file that this option will not backup is your swap file but that is ok because Windows will recreate this on bootup. Run this option from inside Windows / NT / 2000.
After the first backup you could type "attrib /s *.* -a". This would toggle all the archive attributes to OFF and they will
only be turned back on when a file has been changed or added. After one backup I could change to my backup
drive (drive d) and run the following command to backup ONLY the files that have been added or changed since the
last time this command was run "xcopy32 c \*.* /c /m /s /h /y". The advantages of doing this is backups can be made ONLY when everything is running right, rather than an automated backup that will replace a good backup with problems. Also if the main drive dies the second drive will be ready to replace it. VERY GOOD AND IT WORKS.
STEP 3d Backup CMOS
This option will backup your computers CMOS settings. For this option you should of copied the file CMOS to your command folder inside Windows. It will save the CMOS backup inside your '_BACKUP' folder on your root drive. Run this option from Dos, Windows / NT / 2000.
STEP 3e Backup MBR
This option will backup your hard drives master boot record. For this option you should of copied the file 'mbrwork.exe' to your command folder inside Windows. It will save your MBR in your root directory called 'Back0.bin'. Run this option from Dos / Windows / NT / 2000.
STEP 4a Restore registry
This option will restore your registry to the last one that were backed up by Xen. You must of run step 3a sometime in the past before running this option. You can only run this option from Dos, so if you are using the Windows version you will have to boot up with a windows boot disc. And if you are using NT or 2000 and you have installed NT/2000 on a FAT partition than you can also boot up from a boot disc and then launch Xen, but if you have installed onto an NTFS partition you can use a program called 'NTFS for Dos; available from System Internals (https://www.sysinternals.com). This program creates a set of boot discs that you can use to boot up a NT or 2000 system and give you command prompt access, straight into an NTFS hard drive !!! From there you could launch Xen and use the registry option. NOTE: NTFS 4 Dos will sometimes move your hard drive letters one more up than normal e.g. c: to d: - this is not a problem at all, but you will have to change the paths at the top of Xen to reflect this change e.g. SET NTDIR=D:\WINNT and SET ROOT=D: (make sure you change these correctly). NTFS 4 Dos is available for download only as a read only version - you will have to purchase the full version (about forty dollars) for the full features, but it is worth every penny.
STEP 4b Restore user profiles
This option will restore all your user profiles that were backed up by Xen. You must of run step 3b sometime in the past before running this option. You can run this option from inside Windows. To restore your own user profile for NT or 2000 you MUST be logged in as a another user. Its always advisable to make up another super user on NT or 2000 just for this purpose. The reason why you have to be logged in as another user is you cannot copy the logged in users registry because its in use.
STEP 4c Restore root files
This option will restore the files in your root directory that were backed up by Xen. Run this option from inside Windows / NT / 2000.
STEP 4d Restore CMOS
This option will restore the CMOS that Xen last backed up. Run this option from Dos / Windows / NT / 2000.
STEP 4e Restore MBR
This option will restore the master boot record that Xen last backed up. Run this option from Dos / Windows / NT / 2000. When loaded choose option '2' and press 'e' to exit.
STEP 5a Security check for trojans
This option will do a basic check on your drive for trojans and scripts. This option will delete any visual basic scripts in your windows and system folder so if you do use VB scripts than I suggest you back them up. This option is not a replacement for using a good up to date virus checker but it can detect and kill some common trojans. I also advise you uninstall windows scripting host from your computer also. Instructions are at
https://www.fsecure.com/virus-info/u-vbs/ for doing this. If you get a sharing violation when running this option than you may have an active trojan on your computer and advise booting up from a boot floppy and running this option again. Don't worry if items come up not found as this is perfectly normal.
STEP 5b Security for files
This option will make all your application files and dll's read only. To perform this option properly you will need to restart your system with a boot floppy disk and copy the attrib command to it and run this batch file. This is because some files are already open and running this batch from within Windows, would produce a sharing violation.
If you make all your application (EXE) and dll's read only it will make your system more secure because
Normally trojans and viruses don't have any built in routines to change attributes of the files they are designed to modify - they can't modify a read only file without first changing its attributes. There are two reasons viruses and trojans don't try to change the attributes
a. Virus programmers usually don't think anyone would make all their exe & dll files read only and don't write code to deal with that obstacle.
b. even if they think about it, the goal of all viruses is to keep them as small as possible so they are harder to detect. Adding routines tochange attributes increases the size of the programs.
When an exe or dll or com file can't be modified the virus can't spread. BUT even better... If something tries to modify a read only file. Windows usually pops up a notice and that would tip you that something suspicious was going on.
If you try to delete a folder that has read only files you will be prompted with a second confirmation and this extra step helps to avoid mistakes of accidentally deleting the wrong files or folders.
In order to make all your EXE, DLL and COM files read only, it would be advisable to follow these steps, to make sure the job is done properly.
Restart your system from a Boot Floppy disk. The reason for this is that unlike the xcopy command, the attribute command does not have any built in feature to continue if there is a sharing violation. If you try to modify the attributes of a program that is running, attrib.exe will stop with an error message when it tries to modify that file.
Copy c \windows\command\attrib.exe to your A drive. Simply run that command when your system is booted at the A > prompt. This will make the attribute.exe command available when you change to c
Type and enter "Smartdrv" - because with smartdrv loaded it will be at least 10 times faster than without it loaded. Smartdrive should already be on your boot floppy. If not, copy it from C \windows
Change to your c drive (simply type and enter "C " without the quotes)
. From C > type and enter Attrib *.exe +r /s
Repeat the command Attrib *.dll +r /s
And again Attrib *.com +r /s (Note there are very few "com" files but Win.com is the MOST important one because it always runs first to start Windows, making it a very favorite target for all malicious programmers. Note 2 Since Win.com is called to run windows, you can rename Win.com to something else and make it hidden. This makes it just about impossible to start someones system.
Another advantage of doing this is that it's easy to identify any new dll's and exe files that have been added to your system since setting the attributes. For example, most dll's are added to Windows\System, so you can go to a dos window and change to cd\windows\system ...then run this commmand attrib *.dll | find /v "R "
This works because the attributes are reported in the order AHSR then a space follows. If that was not the case then the find commmand would have to look for "R" BUT all files with an R in their name would show up.
If any programs give an error message after doing this when you try to load then, you can easily toggle the read only attributes OFF from Windows Explorer.
STEP 9 Defrag - (only available on Windows 9x, and 2000 option)
Quite simply this option will defragment your drive. Close down any open programs that you may have running e.g. task schedulers and virus checkers etc before running. Run this option from inside Windows or 2000.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Terry Blount for giving me the ideas and inspiration to do this batch file. Some of the ideas used in this batch file
are borrowed from Terry. Terry does an excellent newsletter called Crack Talk (https://newswork.webjump.com).
- David Brown for testing out and finding a major bug in my file. Sorry for trashing your drive twice Dave!
- Mark for lending me his excellent 'registry' and 'hacking book'
- All the other tweakers out there!
- All the other lamers that I know!
- 'MBRWork' implemented from www.terabyteunlimited.com
- Axcel216 - https://members.aol.com/axcel216/
- 'CMOS' by C. Dye.
- Microsoft. Used common commands and bundled CleanDisk with Xen.
- Check out https://www.fatnavyboy.co.uk
- Ron at https://people.ne.mediaone.net/rizun
DISCLAIMER
I CANNOT be held liable for ANY problems, errors, data loss etc you might encounter/experience due to using this program (Xen). Xen was tested by me and by respective authors/contributors. It has worked for me, and/or for other users, but they might NOT work for ALL of you due to the huge variety of PC hardware/software combinations/ configurations/settings out there. My opinion is that if you follow CAREFULLY all directions and guidelines in
these files BEFORE using them, you should not have problems.
ALWAYS BACKUP ALL YOUR HARD DRIVES TO A SAFE LOCATION BEFORE
ATTEMPTING TO MAKE ANY SYSTEM CHANGES
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