boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu (Mickey Boyd) (02/23/90)
Well folks, my wierd problem with the 1.4mb disk drives on IBM comp. has
ended. I think this might be rather significant, because I only figured
it out by accident.
Scenario: Any time I stuck an IBM formatted disk in my ST, and wrote to it
in any way, it would no longer work in the IBM's. (Seems kinda
obvious to me now).
Problem: The &**(@&#$&* Key virus!!!! It is everywhere (I hear that it was
originally distributed on the Midi Maze game disks, but that is not
confirmed). The damn virus, although benign in it's independent
state (ie without a key disk to activate it), was on ALL of my
disks, most notably my Utilities disk. I never noticed it because
it doesn't do anything on ST's, but it seems that it scrags some
info in the boot sector that IBM compatables need to recognize the
disk. Thus, PSFORM (a PD formatter that produces PS/2 compatable
disks) would not work for me, because the virus would be written
to the disk right after it was formatted. Also, whenever I used a
disk formatted on the IBM, one write from my ST would destroy the
disk (as far as the IBM was concerned).
Solution: Get VKILLER from terminator, or someplace, and wipe this one out!!
Be careful not to use it on a self-booting disk (and also never
use a self-booting disk with your HD on!). It took me about two
hours to do, and now I periodically check to make sure is hasn't
croped up again. Also, check every disk in your collection. I
found the Key virus on some PD disks that I purchased through the
mail (and never un-write-protected them). Even originals, unless
they are self-booting, should be checked.
Note: I highly recommend the afore mentions utility, PSFORM. I got it
from comp.binaries (I think), and it does all it is supposed to
do. As soon as I get a hard drive, it will be on the Neodesk
desktop.
Query: What is the newest version of VKILLER?
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Mickey Boyd | "Nobody can be exactly like me.
FSU Computer Science | Even I have trouble doing it."
mail: boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu | - Tallulah Bankhead
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