rzi@philpav.UUCP (Roman Zielinski) (08/25/90)
'avi' has been posted some weeks ago in c.b.i.p. I don't think it is to be
trusted too much...
I had got two diskettes from a 'cheep' hardware dealer in Stockholm containing
VGA-drivers and setup (original and their copy - I don't know how and why they
gave me this extra copy-diskette?). have a habit to test all diskettes
from other sources, so I found that the non-original diskette has virus
1701 or 1704 ('cascade' and/or 'format') - I am happy because I checked
files with right tool (the newly distributed via cbip "virscan 66" from
McAffee, excelent job - I will send my register fee). For curiousity reasons
I checked the diskette with 'avi' but it said 'No visuses found' Halleluja!
- I rememeber that the authors mentioned that they had no pet-viruses to
verify their program (the idea of testing the software again...)
Summa summarum:
1. Do not trust ANY diskettes that they are not yours
even if they come from a dealer (who knows how serious are the kids
working there...?)
2. Do not trust single ani-virus programs (get a second opinion from
another virus scanner)
And at last an Ethical question, What should I do with the dealer?
I plan to visit them tomorrow and warn (in case they don't know...). Should I
publish the name of the dealer in this network, or in our local newspapers, or
perhaps go to the police - it can be seen as a sabotage attempt against me? I
would not like to get a brand new system with infected DOS...
Probably many 1st time buyers are not aware about risks with infected software
that will blow out their files some months later, many home users does not even
have good backups (disks become bigger - so who has time to backup a 150 MB
disk to a multum of 1.2 MB floppies?) - I don't know if a system infected from
the beginning are worth so much...
Roman
+-------------------------------------------+ _--~--_
| Roman M. Zielinski | ---- / \ ----
| Philips Tele & Data System AB | ---- ( |^^^| ) ----
| S-115 84 Stockholm, Sweden | ---- \ \ / / ---
| tel +46 8 782 1373 | |=====|
+-------------------------------------------+ |=====|
| NET ADDR: uunet!mcsun!sunic!philpav!rzi | |=====|
+-------------------------------------------+ ~~U~~