ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi LASK) (08/26/90)
rzi@philpav.UUCP (Roman Zielinski) writes: >'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 : >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? : First of all let's follow-up to comp.virus, but I'll post also to c.b.i.p.d because it has some relevance to this group as well. At the University of Vaasa we had a similar experience when we bought six new 386 PCs from a very small local dealer (at a favorble price). The VGA driver programs that came with the delivery contained a Sunday virus, and very nearly caused nasty havoc but for the astuteness of one user. The dealer is not really the one to blame here (his knowledge of PCs being very limited :-) but the original importer. The annoying thing is that when told them about the virus, the importer just shrugged it off, and may still be at it. We seriously considered suing, but finally decided against it. The lesson here is the same as yours. Don't trust any sources. This goes for ftp sites as well. We do our best to guard against these eventualities, and nothing has happened yet, but no absolute guarantees can be given. .................................................................. Prof. Timo Salmi (Moderating at anon. ftp site 128.214.12.3) School of Business Studies, University of Vaasa, SF-65101, Finland Internet: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi Funet: gado::salmi Bitnet: salmi@finfun