bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) (12/16/89)
I have the Desktop Manager running on my 2.5Mb Mac SE, and I ran a few
tests with it and the WDEF virus.
The DeskTop Manager uses two new Desktop files titled 'Desktop DB' and
'Desktop DF'. If there was a Desktop file present at the time that
the Desktop Manager was added to the system folder, it will remain,
but it will apparently not be used. (For verification, try opening
the Desktop file with ResEdit under Multifinder. On a Mac without the
Desktop Manager active, you will get the error message 'File already
open by another application," but if you try it while running DM, the
file will open without a complaint. Also, check the file's
modification date - with DM it will not have been modified for a while
(most likely since DM was installed); without DM, it is modified
several times a minute, it seems.
WDEF probably will infect a 'dormant' Desktop file, but since the file
is never opened, the Mac will never access the WDEF resource in that
file, so it should not spread.
This information is by no means gospel - but, seeing as how Apple has
not released any information about the Desktop Manager yet, it's all I
have to go on. Amendments and criticisms to my conclusions are
welcomed.
<< Brian >>
--
| Brian S. Kendig ^ Macintosh | /\ _||_ | bskendig |
| Computer Engineering |\ Thought | /__\ \ / | @phoenix.Princeton.EDU |
| Princeton University | \ Police | || \/ | @PUCC.BITNET |
| Systems Engineering, NASA Space Station Freedom / General Electric WP3 |Armadillo@cup.portal.com (Russ Armadillo Coffman) (12/18/89)
Brian Kendig: > WDEF probably will infect a 'dormant' Desktop file, but since the file > is never opened, the Mac will never access the WDEF resource in that > file, so it should not spread. I agree. I run Desktop Manager on my aging ol' Plus with an 80 MB HD. Sure helps when you add a new file with a bundle. What I keep forgetting, however, is that every time I boot from a floppy for some reason, the Desktop file gets rebuilt on the HD. Desktop Manager users should keep this in mind. I always delete the Desktop file after rebooting to save over 100K disk space, but now it's important to do so, I'd guess, as a previously dormant, but infected, Desktop file would immediately infect the floppy you booted from, no? Si? -Russ