IA96@PACE.BITNET (IA96000) (07/23/89)
perhaps you remember my mentioning safeware several weeks ago. we have been doing some testing and thought you might like to know the results. we tested safeinfo and several other safeware products on what has now been identified as the jerusalem virus and several other viral strains. in each case, safeware detected that some change had been made in the file since it had been compiled and notified me. safeware runs a proprietary selftest (tm) module as soon as the program is loaded. execution is immediately halted if a change is detected in file length, crc or both. safeinfo.arc can be downloaded from (201) 473-1991 if you would like to check it out. also viruscan can be downloaded from (201) 249-1898. the first number is a 10 line tbbs so there is almost never a busy signal. i spoke to the author of safeware and he assures me neither safeware nor the selftest module will ever be sold or allowed to be used by a commercial software house. he seems to be quite proud of the fact that safeware was written and released by a shareware author. in fact when you think about it it is quite amazing that commercial houses have not yet released such a product, and it took a shareware author to do it first! he also assures me that the code can be changed and programs recompiled in less than 5 minutes if the need arises. it seems there are several versions of the selftest module and only one has been released in shareware so far. in any event, the built in protection safeware offers works, and there are now more than 25 programs released under the safeware label. almost forgot, we are working on getting copies of all the safeware products. if we can get them, does anyone know where we can post them for requests? we do not have a listserv here, so it would be kind of hard. any suggestions would be appreciated.