) (10/17/89)
Just yesterday, as I was installing Lotus Freelance Plus, I began to
notice inconsistencies between Copyright registration procedures and
safe anti-virus practices. The following is extracted from the manual
"Getting Started" on page 1-9.
" Step 1. Run FL_FIRST
The FL_FIRST program validates your copy of Freelance Plus. All
users must run this program before backing up or using the Freelance
Plus diskettes. "
Because this registration step involves writing the user and company
name to the original master, it is necessary to write-enable the disk
and put it in the machine. However, being at the head of the
anti-virus campaign for the university, I noticed that this really
doesn't allow for safe security practices. ALL documentation that I
have read or written to defend systems against viruses suggests that
all shrink wrapped software be write-protected and backed up before
that software is installed on the system, thereby insuring that you
will have at least one copy of everything that isn't infected by a
virus.
Assuming that my system has viruses, then I could safely say that
there is a good chance my Lotus Freelance Plus masters are also
infected. Thanks Lotus for your insight on making my system secure...
Gregory Tucker- Microcomputer Assistant
UNL Computing Resource Center
Bitnet: tucker@unlvax3, tucker@unoma1, tucker@unlvax1
Internet: tucker@crchpux.unl.edu, tucker@engvms.unl.edu
Noisenet: (402)472-5761
Snailnet: 326 Administration
Lincoln, NE 68588-0496