okay@tafs.mitre.org (Okay, S J) (01/16/90)
>From: MTR780::WINS%"clp%altos86.altos.com%mwunix@mwvm.mitre.org" 11-JAN-1990 10:16:41 >This whole virus fad is really getting on my nerves. >I have little time to spend on my amiga, and I certainly >don't want to spend my valuable time managing a set of >Virus maintenance programs -- ["I'd rather be....."] Actually its not that hard to maintain a virus-free Ami, at least in the current climate. This due primarily to the fact that virtually all the Amiga viruses out there are boot-sector viruses. These little beasts only live on and infect the boot sector of an Amiga volume. So, unless you boot off an infected volume, you can't be infected. I have an auto-booting hard disk which gets its boot sector checked every time the machine comes up as part of the Startup-Sequence. It hasn't once come up 'unclean', and since thats my boot volume and most of stuff I have comes via modem, I only have to do the occasional floppy check. The one caveat to this is the Xeno virus, which is basically the first file infector virus(i.e. it attaches itself to normal files too, not just those in the boot block) for the Amiga. However, I have not seen it, nor heard much about it, so I can't really comment on it, save that it is the only non-boot-block virus I know of for the Amiga. Anybody else out there in net.land want to comment or enlighten us on this? The point is that it really doesn't take a whole lot of time to do, and if you just give it a few minutes occasionally(Since we have multi-tasking machines, it is possible to run anti-virals in the background as a daemon or something), you'll sleep more soundly and your Ami will be happy and thank you. The whole idea behind "safe computing" isn't thats its complicated, but thats its just common sense. Don't think "safe computing" as in "safe sex"..think in terms of "personal hygiene". I think its a much closer comparison in terms of how complex and automatic to everyone it is/should be. >I find it amazing that there are such incredible loosers out >there whose only way to get my attention is to destroy my machine. This is true...I like the way George Will put it: "They should all be strung up and pelted with dead cats" >Chuck L. Peterson >clp@altos.com ---Steve ------------------ Stephen Okay OKAY@TAFS.MITRE.ORG "I wept because I had no shoes, until I met a a man who had no feet, so I said ' Hey man, got any shoes you're not wearing???'"
ifarqhar@mqccsunc.mqcc.mq.OZ (Ian Farquhar) (01/18/90)
In article <8271@nigel.udel.EDU> okay@tafs.mitre.org (Okay, S J) writes: > >The one caveat to this is the Xeno virus, which is basically the first file >infector virus(i.e. it attaches itself to normal files too, not just those >in the boot block) for the Amiga. However, I have not seen it, nor heard much > about it, so I can't really comment on it, save that it is the only > non-boot-block virus I know of for the Amiga. Anybody else out there in >net.land want to comment or enlighten us on this? Wasn't the IRQ virus a file virus, or did it only hit this country? Can anyone who has been hit by this provide we with some Xeno signatures (ie. distictive methods for detecting its existance). I will pass them to Mike Hansell, who will incorporate them into KDV and DUTILS. Please do not send anything infected, especially if it is unmarked! +-----------------------------------+-------------------------------+ | Ian Farquhar | Phone : (02) 805-7420 (STD) | | Microcomputer Support | (612) 805-7420 (ISD) | | Office of Computing Services | Fax : (02) 805-7433 (STD) | | Macquarie University NSW 2109 | (612) 805-7433 (ISD) | | Australia | Also : 805-7205 | +-----------------------------------+-------------------------------+ "A cynic is what an idealist calls a realist." Sir Humphrey Appleby (Patron Saint of Public Servants) Yes, Minister. Yes, Prime Minister. +-----------------------------------+-------------------------------+ | Ian Farquhar | Phone : (02) 805-7420 (STD) | | Microcomputer Support | (612) 805-7420 (ISD) | | Office of Computing Services | Fax : (02) 805-7433 (STD) | | Macquarie University NSW 2109 | (612) 805-7433 (ISD) | | Australia | Also : 805-7205 | +-----------------------------------+-------------------------------+ D