cej@ll1a.ATT.COM (C. E. T. L. Jones) (10/02/90)
I'm not sure, but I might be infected with a new virus. Maybe
you can tell me.
SYMPTOMS: One and only one - so far... "Armor Alley" will not run if
the date/time is set to a date after 9/29. If the date is set to 9/29
or earlier the program runs fine. According to Three-Sixty's
"hot-line" the program doesn't even look at the clock.
DISCOVERY?: Purchased and installed Armor Alley on Saturday (9/29 -
Yom Kippur). The program ran fine. (One bomb-box when it and Sound
Master's hourly chime grabbed the sound channel at the same time.)
On Sunday, rather than running, the exact same copy of Armor
Alley just quit to the finder. No alerts, no bombs, no messages -
just a silent abort back to the finder. After going crazy trying to
isolate the problem, (see below) I decided the only difference was what
day it was, and tried changing the clock.
When I found changing the clock *did* make it fail or run,
depending on the setting, (and verifying it by trying it both ways
several times) I realized that the 'failure date' was Yom Kippur, a
very popular date for time-bomb viruses. That, and the question "but
what else could it be?" leads me to this posting.
OTHER THINGS I'VE TRIED: Not everying I tried was virus related. Most
of this was done to "shake things loose" and find what was "wrong" with
my Mac.
A) Scanned entire hard drive (including "Armor Alley") and
"Armor Alley" floppy with Disinfectant 2.1 (That's the
latest, right?) Nothing found.
B) Restored/replaced System, Finder and Multifinder (more than
once)
C) Tried both Finder and Multifinder
D) Reset parameter ram
E) Recopied game/loaded off of (locked) master floppy. (more
than once)
F) "Removed" all INIT but Aask and Disinfectant INITs. (Didn't
really remove 'em - used Aask.)
G) Verified hard drive
H) Defragmented and optimized hard drive partitions (What the
heck - they needed it.)
I) Re-installed SCSI disc driver.
J) Deleted desktop, did re-build.
K) Booted off of copy of 6.0.2 System Tools floppy, dismounted
hard drive partitions, stared Armor Alley from copy of
master floppy.
None of these would cause the program to run.
L) Ran a good number of other programs, none of which showed
any sign of trouble. (Sim City, Think 4.0
SUSPICIONS:
Step "K" above, limits what could be going on, as I see it, to
one of four things.
1) I have an unknown virus on my hard drive that A)
Disinfectant 2.1 cannot find *and* B) can contaminate a floppy duing a
floppy to floppy copy (single 800k drive)
2) My copy of "Armor Alley" contains a virus that Disinfectant 2.1
cannot find.
3) The program itself has been "booby-trapped."
4) Some other very strange thing is happening with my Macintosh.
I tend to discount 2 and 3. If either were the case, I would
not be alone with this problem, and so far the Three-Sixty hot-line
hasn't hear of this problem from anyone but me.
So what do I do now? Suggestions are *very* welcome. Use
e-mail, and I'll summarize as the drama (if any) unfolds.
MACHINE:
Mac II, 5Mb RAM, 100Mb Rodime RX-100, standard color monitor &
video card, system 6.0.4 (and 6.0.2), no appletalk. Aask &
Disinfectant INIT used at times, except with 6.0.2 floppy.
Charles Evan Jones
"...and the contestant from Germany is a bi-lingual vacuum cleaner."
...att!ccsitn!cej [Just me, not AT&T] cej@ccsitn.att.com