PortTalk

Users of Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP often confronted a security related issue which made it impossible for the OS and for the drivers running in kernel mode to use I/O ports. This meant that some applications could not run properly due to certain access limitations.

Nonetheless, there are ways of circumventing pretty much any restriction of this kind and a solution designed to be easy to use and provide all users with a means of lifting the above-mentioned restraints comes in the form of a small package called PortTalk.

This bundle includes all the necessary tools for granting access to the needed I/O ports for any application selected by the user. There is no graphical interface to help in this respect, but the command-line syntax it uses is simple and explained in detail in the accompanying documentation.

When putting PortTalk to work, it is always a good idea to keep a backup with the system settings and proceed with care, following the instructions included in the package. This way it is possible to avoid mishaps and potential deadlocks which may be caused by the improper use of the driver and program that unlock the ports for other apps and processes.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that it is advisable to allow access one I/O port at a time for each software that needs it. This way, one can avoid unlocking all the restricted ports and having a running process take over a vital communication channel, which could result in a system crash or lockdown.