Program Locks Up Computers on Purpose
Dec. 14, 2004 — -- Computer hard drives, surprisingly, are a lot like hallway closets. Both can become hopelessly cluttered with everyday detritus that, over time, essentially makes both storage spaces a lot less useful.
But while cleaning out real-world closets is just a matter of getting in and throwing out the junk, maintaining an organized digital storage space for your home computer isn't an easy task.
Computer software can install different parts of itself in various places on the hard drive. So even deleted programs -- expired versions of software or old video games, for example -- can leave behind tiny bits that collectively degrade a computer's performance.
What's more, the problems are significantly worse for home computers connected to the Internet. Online programs and other tools for exploring the Net become installed and intertwined with a computer's Web browser software. And then there are the online security threats -- malicious "spyware," e-mail viruses, Trojan horses and worms -- that are designed to be cleverly hidden from view and nearly impossible to remove.
For tech-savvy computer owners, there are a host of software tools and utilities that can be used to help clean up a bloated hard drive. And antivirus programs, firewalls and spyware blockers can help protect computers from the sneakier and more dangerous programs that intrude into a user's PC.
But Centurion Technologies, a computer security company in Fenton, Mo., believes it has a program that takes a much different -- and possibly draconian -- approach to keeping hard drives efficient, clean and safe from hidden surprises.
Centurion's DriveShield Plus is software that blocks any attempts to digitally add or remove anything from the computer's hard drive. Once installed on a PC, the program takes note of all the software files, including critical pieces of the Windows operating system, and "locks" them in place.
When a user starts up the PC, the program creates a temporary copy of the Windows operating system files and "tricks" the computer into using these copies rather than the actual files, which have been hidden from the view of the user and other computer programs.
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