george@swbatl.sbc.com (George D. Nincehelser) (07/17/90)
Here's an idea! Could an agreement be made with Apple to distribute Disinfectant with minimal system software as a floppy disk DiskCopy image? This would make the file awfully big, but it would insure that the user has a *CLEAN* *BOOTABLE* floppy with Disinfectant on it (assuming the floppy was locked after the copy). Another point on the downside would be that the user would have to have DiskCopy and know how to use it, but couldn't a whiz-bang, one file application be made up that automatically makes a bootable Disinfectant floppy? Would this setup be worth the large file size? Well, I really don't need it, but it might be nice for less-technical Mac users (i.e. those who would have problems making a minimal bootable system floppy). -- / George D. Nincehelser \ uunet!swbatl!george \ / / Southwestern Bell Telephone \ Phone: (314) 235-6544 \ / / / Advanced Technology Laboratory \ Fax: (314) 235-5797 \ / / / /\ 1010 Pine, St. Louis, MO 63101 \ de asini umbra disceptare \
hzink@alchemy.UUCP (Harry K. Zink) (07/19/90)
To make a bootable, packed floppy with Disinfectant and System on it, you could simply use Stuffit's Auto-Unstuffit creator and make one file with all necessary files in the archive and let the user unstuffit it to a floppy by clicking on it. Personally I really do not see the use in all this fuss over putting disinfectant with a minimum system on a floppy. What is the problem? Those that know how to create such disk wouldnot waste their time downloading suhc a huge file, and those who are clueless about creating a system disk with just system and finder plus the disinfectant application on it, will most likely also by baffled by the taks of using Diskcopy or Stuffit to create their disk. Could someone please clarify to 'moi' poor lost soul why this seems to be such an important issue?
george@swbatl.sbc.com (George D. Nincehelser) (07/19/90)
In article <78@alchemy.UUCP> hzink@alchemy.UUCP (Harry K. Zink) writes: > >Personally I really do not see the use in all this fuss over putting >disinfectant with a minimum system on a floppy. What is the problem? Those >that know how to create such disk wouldnot waste their time downloading suhc a >huge file, and those who are clueless about creating a system disk with just >system and finder plus the disinfectant application on it, will most likely >also by baffled by the taks of using Diskcopy or Stuffit to create their disk. > >Could someone please clarify to 'moi' poor lost soul why this seems to be such >an important issue? Well, I don't know if it is an *important* issue, but I thought an application that automatically puts Disinfectant and a minimal system on a floppy would be nice for users less technical than ourselves. Granted, if Stuffit and DiskCopy were used, it would be pointless. What I had in mind was a file that you download and then double-click on to activate. It would then create the Disinfectant bootable floppy automatically. All the user would do is lock and label the floppy. Using the auto-unstuffing application doesn't quite fit what I'm thinking about since you would only get the *files* and not the original disk *image*. I think the image would best since you could be sure that the resulting disk was clean. In the file scenario you possibly put the files on an already infected floppy. -- / George D. Nincehelser \ uunet!swbatl!george \ / / Southwestern Bell Telephone \ Phone: (314) 235-6544 \ / / / Advanced Technology Laboratory \ Fax: (314) 235-5797 \ / / / /\ 1010 Pine, St. Louis, MO 63101 \ de asini umbra disceptare \
tjfs@tadtec.uucp (Tim Steele) (07/19/90)
C'mon guys! All you have to do is: a) Format a floppy b) Drag Disinfectant 2.0 to it c) Drag the System and Finder *files* to it (note: no System Folder) That's it! (Note: make sure your System isn't too gorged with fonts & DAs!) We need an application to do this? Sheesh. Tim -- tjfs@tadtec.uucp ...!uunet!mcvax!ukc!tadtec!tjfs Tadpole Technology plc, Science Park, Milton Road, CAMBRIDGE, CB4 4WQ Phone: +44-223-423030 Fax: +44-223-420772 Telex: 817316 TADTEC G
george@swbatl.sbc.com (George D. Nincehelser) (07/20/90)
In article <TJFS.90Jul19130259@tadtec.uucp> tjfs@tadtec.uucp (Tim Steele) writes: >C'mon guys! All you have to do is: > [instructions deleted] > >That's it! (Note: make sure your System isn't too gorged with fonts & >DAs!) > >We need an application to do this? Sheesh. Either someone's news reader isn't in synch or I didn't make myself clear the first couple of times. The whole point is to make it easy for USERS LESS TECHNICAL THAN OURSELVES! I know of several Mac users in my area who wouldn't even know where to *find* the system file or that it even exists. All they do is run applications. They'd never make heads or tails of the instructions above, but they'd still like to check their systems for viri. If all they do is run applications then how do they even get the file, you ask? Easy! I mail it to them (via QuickMail...real easy) or they get it off of a public server (easy, too). There are other easy ways that a non-techie could get the program, so I'd like a non-techie way to get a *CLEAN* *BOOTABLE* copy to them (other than the US mail). Oh, well.... I guess I'd better start licking stamps..... -- / George D. Nincehelser \ uunet!swbatl!george \ / / Southwestern Bell Telephone \ Phone: (314) 235-6544 \ / / / Advanced Technology Laboratory \ Fax: (314) 235-5797 \ / / / /\ 1010 Pine, St. Louis, MO 63101 \ de asini umbra disceptare \
wilcox@hydra.unm.edu (Sherman Wilcox) (07/20/90)
In article <1990Jul20.003127.9742@swbatl.sbc.com> george@swbatl.UUCP (George D. Nincehelser) writes: > >The whole point is to make it easy for USERS LESS TECHNICAL THAN >OURSELVES! I know of several Mac users in my area who wouldn't >even know where to *find* the system file or that it even exists. At some point, we start doing a disservice to "users less technical than ourselves" by not encouraging them to acquire some level of knowledge about such "technical" things as the fact that there is a system and where it is. Perhaps fear of virus infection can provide the needed motivation to empower these users by putting a little bit of knowledge in their hands. In the long run, it'll make them better, certainly more independent, computer users (IMHO). Sherman Wilcox University of New Mexico Dept. of Linguistics
francis@giza.cis.ohio-state.edu (RD Francis) (07/21/90)
In article <1990Jul20.134951.4832@ariel.unm.edu> wilcox@hydra.unm.edu (Sherman Wilcox) writes: >In article <1990Jul20.003127.9742@swbatl.sbc.com> george@swbatl.UUCP (George D. Nincehelser) writes: >> >>The whole point is to make it easy for USERS LESS TECHNICAL THAN >>OURSELVES! ... > >At some point, we start doing a disservice to "users less technical >than ourselves" by not encouraging them to acquire some level of >knowledge about such "technical" things .... At the same time, there are those users who would say, in essence, "If I have to do something to make it work, I just won't do it at all." In general, those users are supported in some way, shape or form by those of us who do know what we're doing, but personally stepping in to set up the disk for them could potentially be a pain. In most instances, those sort of situations can be handled by physical distribution of the disk, though. Never underestimate the ability of the users to screw things up, however. I'm sure that if someone did set up a Disinfectant installer as described, someone would screw up using it if at all possible. My old company used to amaze several clients by fixing their system very quickly when someone came out to look at a problem. It was fairly simple; all they had to do was call up Find File, look for System, and remove the half-dozen extra system folders that had been installed along with new software packages. Between the client's pleasure, and the fact that the company had just made some easy money off of someone else's stupidity, my boss was real happy :-). -- R David Francis francis@cis.ohio-state.edu
wiseman@tellabs.com (Jeff Wiseman) (07/22/90)
In article <23010.26A7AA02@stjhmc.fidonet.org> Leo.Bores@f14.n114.z1.fidonet.org (Leo Bores) writes: >In an article of <16 Jul 90 01:48:41 GMT>, jln@acns.nwu.edu (John Norstad) >writes: > > JN>I was waiting for some to make this complaint, which I suppose is > JN>justified. But 20K (which is about the right number, by the way) is > JN>only > JN>about 7% of the total space occupied by the entire application, which I > JN> > JN>felt wasn't too much out of line. > JN> >Don't feel bad John. I hear that someone once complained that Van Gogh used too >many colors and Beethoven too many notes. > Actually, this sounds like a terrific deal! Most people probably pay up to $20 per megabyte for their hard disks (except those who buy their hard drives from apple! :-) and many pay less. 20K is only about 20/1000 (or 1/50th) of THAT value (somewhere less than $0.40). That's ALMOST like someone saying to me "Buy my ABOUT BOX sharware for 40 cents and I'll throw in the most complete, current, best supported, and best documented anti-viral freeware product as a BONUS!". I say ALMOST because in THIS case, you don't even have to send in the money! Just by a drive to put it on :-) :-) When it comes to the MacIntosh, it may be expensive at times but some of the BEST things in life are FREE! (Besides, I'm in LUV with fancy about boxes :-) -- Jeff Wiseman: ....uunet!tellab5!wiseman OR wiseman@TELLABS.COM
mike@dayton.UUCP (Mike Baillargeon) (07/23/90)
In article <1990Jul19.015753.12944@swbatl.sbc.com> george@swbatl.UUCP (George D. Nincehelser) writes: > >Well, I don't know if it is an *important* issue, but I thought an >application that automatically puts Disinfectant and a minimal system >on a floppy would be nice for users less technical than ourselves. I found the instructions in the program reasonable and accurate. I would also like to applaud the author of Disinfectant for the quality of the software and the price. Thanks for the Great Work and quality program. -Mike -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Mike Baillargeon | As expected all opinions stated | | mike@dayton.DHDSC.MN.ORG | are my own and mine alone. | |----------------------------------------|---------------------------------| | If I am elected, 2 Macintosh's in every office. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+