I have an old program on a floppy-disk which is protected with some laser methods. I'd like to make a backup copy of the diskette: I've tried to copy it with many programs (Norton DiskEdit, Teledisk, Anadisk, HD-Copy, Disk Copy Fast and so on), but there is always some error. What else can I try with? My diskette is almost damaged. Another question. I'd like to find a text-mode Internet browser for DOS. I've already tried Nettamer, but it hangs up after few seconds; I've also tried Bobcat and Lynx, but they are to complicated: I have to configure every single step of the modem. What else could I download?

Write protected with laser methods? That's a new one for me. Are you sure the disk is the same size as the one you're trying to copy to? Can you copy the disk contents to the hard drive? The disk may already be dead hence your inability to copy it. As for the web browser. I've seen Arachne suggested time and again. W0rm has it on his web site in a handy floppy disk image form. You download his techdisk and then the arachne disk and boot up to the web browser. I have never tried it, but there are instructions on his web site that tell you how to achieve this.

:/ Arachne is a graphical web browser, it's pretty much netscape for dos. As for text browsers, you've pretty much tried them all. You should get used to lynx. I think there was one more...yes, it's called "yan"...I dont know how different it is from the others, or where I got it, but you'll find it if you look around. - W0rm

Try WinImage for Windows available in 16bit & 32bit versions at www.winimage.com It copies disk sector by sector and marks bad sectors for you. As for Laser Protect I have never heard of it. It could be that Setup or Install checks for Bad Sectors at known locations, which you would not get with a direct copy!

First; why do all these people use Winimage? It's one of the most lousy programs for it's purpose that I have seen, and it's only for Windows. Second; I don't think your diskette's copy protection has anything to do with laser. It is probably one of these old (old!) games that use their own diskette read routines to read data in so strange ways from the diskette drive that it cannot be read by other programs. If it is one of these games that you have to boot the diskette to run, you can as well give up, unless you tell us what game it is and maybe someone knows how to crack the protection. Third; In DOS, there is no plug-n-play or auto-detection or even installation of modem, so whatever browser you use, you will have to, manually, configure your modem and isp. Stick to Lynx, it's good.

It's not a game; it's a particular scanner program for my HP Scanjet 3P. I have found a very similar software under Windows 98 (Omnipage), but I get a lot of errors such as "engaged server" and the like. About strange formats: if it were simply a strange format, I could copy it with Anadisk, or Norton DiskEdit, which copy the single physical sectors of the disk. I know also other software using this kind of protection. Probably, it's really impossible to copy. Thank you all very much, anyway!

Why use WinImage? Far from being 'the most lousy programs for it's purpose' Its easy to use, almost universal, gives error free copies, and can create Self-Extracting Bootable Images (In Win9x version) Being a Windows Application is its only drawback. Besides 'most' DOS users use Win3x or 9x as well on the same machine or other setup!