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From: EURO29@FR29RA.#29.FBRE.FRA.EU
To  : VIRUS@WW


I have noticed considerable confusion abounding on packet about what is and
what isn't a virus. I hope to clear up the issue here by explaining about
viruses and such like.

A virus is a program written specifically with the intent do replicate and
propigate around computer systems. They are usually benign (do no damage) and
some are so well written to be nearly invisable. There are some (eg stoned,
april fool, michelangalo) that are designed to do damage. Virii spread by
attaching themselves to other programs, and spreading further when that
program is copied or run. There are many different types of virii, but they
all do this in one form or another. Some are very complex TSR virii (TSR
means that they can stay in memory) that will infect just about every
executable program they come across (eg, if you type:
XCOPY C:\HELLO.EXE A:
There is a virus that will infect XCOPY, C:\HELLO.EXE and A:\HELLO.EXE)
Others are simpler, and will search for files to infect only when they are
run, and don't stay in memory.
Many people, if they run into a problem with a program not working, will
immediatly blame a virus. The truth is that there is considerable damage done
purly buy bugs, and a virus may not even be related to the problem. There are
many myths about how virii can be caught, but there is only one way:
executing something that is infected. This may mean simply putting in a disk,
and typing DIR, as is the case with JUNKIE because it puts part of itself in
the system areas of disks, but usually it means running an infected program.
What will happen when you run a virus will depend on the virus, and what it
has been programmed to do. Usually it will put itself into memory and wait
until another program is infected, and it will then infect it. note that you
CANNOT get a virus by downloading something off packet, unless you use a
program like 7+ and turn it into an executable and run it. I have heard some
people say that a problem they had when they dod something like download
BAYCOM 1.6, without running it, was a virus. This cannot be true, as a virus
must be run for it to infect, and then they usually are unnoticable. There is
little point for a virus to kill a computer as soon as it arrives, because it
then has no method of spreading further.
To summarize, here are a few commonly mistaken points about virii:
-They spread by infecting other files
-They arn't always harmful (some are actully benificial)
-They are written specifically to be a virus, and don't 'appear' by

 themselves.

Some other things that people attribute to virii:
BUGS - These are mistakes that programmers have made in a program that may
cause adverse operations, crashes, etc. As any programmer can tell you,

debugging is often the hardest part of writing a program.

TROJANS - These are programs specifaclly written to do something other then
intended. The MARS.EXE that you may have heard about some time ago is an
example of this. They are usually claimed to be a program, but when you run
them, they do something else. (Although some that may have been written to
target specific individuals may actually work normally unless they detect a
certain user or computer).

WORMS - These arn't very common, although there was a nasty one in 1988 on
the internet (the Internet Worm) that brought down a large part of the net.
These are similar to virii, except that they don't infect other files, but
usually spread on a network (although due to it's design, packet isn't
supceptable to them)

It is usually bugs and trojans that are called virii.
If anyone has any queries about this topic, then please don't hesitate to
ask.
(Note about scanners: The May version of McAfee scan detects over 6000 virii,
and Microsofts MSAV scanner detects 1234 (easy to remember!) virii, so I
don't recommend you use MSAV, but get another one.
It always pays to have a boot disk with a viruss scanner and cleaner on it,
as some scanners won't run if they detect a virus in memory. It also pays to
scan all incoming disks, and regularly use a boot disk and run a scan. The
LEMMING virus is a good example of an 'advanced' stealth virus, as it will
disinfect files  as they are scanned, so they don't get found with a virus in
them, and checksum scanners won't work either. It also fools TBAV scanner
into scanning in such a way that it doesn't get picked up.)
Hope this helps - and stops messages about supposed 'virii'!