PGOETZ@LOYVAX.BITNET (04/09/88)
>I can't believe it. 185 people out there willing to expose >their systems to unproven software [or something to that effect] I can't believe it. Somebody who not only is so timid himself that he is willing to deprive himself of free opportunities to utilize his system (and presumably will eventually stop buying software altogether), but who also expects the rest of us to stay in the backwaters of computing with him, waiting for others to test the current. Sorry for the hot flame (& I can't even remember whom I'm flaming), but this is an overreaction which upsets me. I don't mind (though I think it's sad) if someone is afraid to take part himself, but if they vote NO to binaries because of it, they want to control me with their fear. I don't need their protection. BTW - For any program I download which does not require writing to disk, my system is 100% completely safe. Because I write-protect my disks when I run such a program, and because I can't afford a hard disk. (Can't you write protect those? There oughta be a mod. Any enterprising folks?) I did pick up a virus in 1981 or 82 (the Elk Cloner V2.0, which I still have in magnetic formeldahyde), but I am more careful now. The most important rules are, boot only from a safe disk (check the DOS & never write to it), & use write-protect tabs (or a switch, in my case). I'll write a summary of the Elk Cloner when I get the time. For now, if T1 S0 Bytes $80-82 are 4C 00 9B, you've got the Cloner. If T$11 S0 B4 is non-zero, you might have a virus. Both the Elk Cloner and Disease DOS use this byte ($B3BF in the VTOC RAM buffer) as a boot count. But, I've also seen good disks with positive numbers here (such as the Inmate copies I sent out - they're not infected.) The Elk Cloner doesn't destroy any data, but it does (once) (every 35 boots or so) lock you out on reset. Mostly it does strange things, like switch the filetype letters in the catalog, or set inverse video on boot, or print a cute poem on reset. It lives from $9000-95FF in RAM and T2 S3-8 on disk. Disease DOS is not a DOS at all, but a little header put at the beginning of binary files which counts the number of times you run the file & erases the current track after a certain number. And, no, I will NOT send you the code to either program, so don't ask. Phil Goetz PGOETZ@LOYVAX