A lovely piece of...
software written by
Research Machines PLC, and part of their '
make win95 behave somewhat like NT and linux' software, bundled with their 'network' 'installations'. You'll quite often see these deployed in
schools (they're pretty gullible, you see...)
The idea behind
RM file organiser is to prevent the user from logging on if they are over quota, and give them to opportunity to delete or move files until the situation is remedied. That's right, not actually prevent the user from making files if they are over quota, just to
bite them in the ass next time they log on. Not very
helpful if the poor user has 5 minutes to print out important coursework...
To describe it as a loathsome bit of bad programming is an understatement... There are more than a few telltale signs it was written by a
moron:
Despite being an accessory for windows 95, it has the look and feel of
3.x. It abounds with 16-bit widgets, win3.x colours, and total defiance of 95's 'new'
explorer interface. Files are displayed in a pair of
listboxes and manipulated using buttons; no icons, no drag and drop, no resizing the lists if you have the audacity to use
long file names
The program retrieves its quota settings from an
INI file in the user's
home directory. Dumbass
sysadmins set the permissions wrong, and the users can set their own quota.
Whoops.
It doesn't display hidden files, but they are still included in the quota calculations. Apparently the poor little
users aren't to be trusted with
hidden files in case they break the system (until they log on that is...
Explorer has no such problems). Pair this with Windows's prodigious ability to generate hidden files (including, but not limited to,
Outlook's mailbox files,
Temporary internet files, and the
registry). If it generates enough, the hidden file become over quota, and the user can never log on, even after nuking every file they own.
Clever.
Not that this matters, as its security is non-existent. Just follow this simple procedure:
Acquire PVIEW95.EXE, and stick it on a disk
Press F1 to open the help window
Select File... Open...
Browse to pview95.exe and right-click
Run it
Kill fileorg.exe
Logon proceeds normally. Yay!
(RM can be found at www.rmplc.co.uk - hence file organiser... damn merkins ;)