Removing Terminate-and-Stay-Resident Programs from Memory (80364)



The information in this article applies to:
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 2.11
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.1
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.2
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.21
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.3
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.3a
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.01
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0a
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22

This article was previously published under Q80364

SUMMARY

Terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) programs cannot be removed from the environment unless you:
    Reboot the system.
    Alter the memory arena by finding the memory owned by the TSR and marking it as available.
    Use a third party utility.

MORE INFORMATION

Two MS-DOS based programs, MARK and RELEASE by Turbo Software, are popular tools when working with TSR programs. After you run MARK, you can load TSR programs into memory and later remove them by running RELEASE. For more information on MARK and RELEASE, contact Turbo Software at (719) 260-6641.

Byte magazine also has an in-house tool called KILLPROG. This program uses a hot key sequence that checks for a safe time to use MS-DOS. It then checks the memory arena structure and puts memory back together the way it was before KILLPROG was loaded. KILLPROG also includes a command to take itself out of memory when the user chooses to do so.

For more information on KILLPROG contact BYTE magazine at (800) 258-5485 and ask for the December single month listing of KILLPROG. It costs $10.95 per copy.

The programs included here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these programs' performance or reliability.

REFERENCES

"Microsoft MS-DOS Programmer's Reference Version 5," Microsoft Press, 1988

"The MS-DOS Encyclopedia," Microsoft Press, 1991


Modification Type: Major Last Reviewed: 5/12/2003
Keywords: KB80364