MacWorld 1996 July/Macworld (1996-07).dmg/Shareware Picks/Disinfectant/Disinfectant.rsrc/STR#_201.txt

Text File | 1995-04-07 | 9KB | 361 lines

offers an update service.

anti-viral product instead of using Disinfectant. Purchase a product which

Mactivity-macclub benelux update service, or purchase a commercial

information listed above, we recommend that you either subscribe to the

viruses appear. If you do not have access to any of the sources of

It is very important to keep your virus protection tools up-to-date as new



for more information.

Disinfectant as new viruses appear. Write to them at the above address

not just Western Europe. For a fee they will send you new versions of

Disinfectant. This service is available to people anywhere in the world,

Mactivity-macclub benelux also offers an international update service for





   B-4761 Büllingen Belgium

   Wirtzfeld Valley 140

   Disinfectant Update

   Mactivity-macclub benelux



Mactivity-macclub benelux. Stamps are not required. The address is:

Disinfectant by sending a self-addressed disk mailer and a floppy disk to

People in Western Europe may obtain a copy of the latest version of





preferably cardboard disk mailers.

stamps (available from any post office). Please use sturdy envelopes,

the U.S. may send an international postal reply coupon instead of US

the author at the address given at the end of this manual. People outside

self-addressed stamped envelope and a floppy disk (800K or 1440K) to

shareware software may obtain a copy of Disinfectant by sending a

Macintosh users who do not have access to electronic sources of free and



• Read the USENET news group comp.sys.mac.announce.



• Subscribe to the BITNET distribution lists VIRUS-L and INFO-MAC.



CompuServe, or GEnie. Join the Macintosh forums.

• Subscribe to a commercial online service such as America Online,



excellent bulletin boards for their members.

• Join a Macintosh electronic bulletin board. Many user groups operate



(Boston Computer Society), or a local user group.

• Join a user group such as BMUG (Berkeley Macintosh User Group), BCS



the latest news about Macintosh viruses and new Disinfectant releases:

services. Nonetheless, there are several ways you can keep abreast of

commercial services such as telephone support, mailing lists, or upgrade

Disinfectant is not a commercial product. We cannot offer typical



rascal.ics.utexas.edu, and comp.binaries.mac.

Calvacom, Delphi, BIX, MacNet, sumex-aim.stanford.edu,

New versions are also posted to CompuServe, GEnie, America Online,



   ftp://ftp.acns.nwu.edu/pub/disinfectant/



within a few days. The official anonymous FTP site is:

we usually release a new version of Disinfectant to recognize the virus

Disinfectant is distributed electronically. When a new virus is discovered,



to the comparatively meaningless damage caused by computer viruses.

compare the enormous suffering caused by biological viruses such as HIV

they never occur naturally. Most importantly, it is not possible to

never created by people. Computer viruses are always created by people;

organisms. Biological viruses usually occur naturally and are almost

between biological and computer viruses too far. Computers are not living

As with all analogies, however, it is possible to carry the analogy



inoculate or vaccinate the system to protect it against future infection.

the infection without damaging the system and it is sometimes possible to

damaged. With both kinds of viruses, it is sometimes possible to remove

survive. In both cases, the infected system is sometimes severely

Both of them replicate and they both require the assistance of a host to

The analogy between biological viruses and computer viruses is striking.



revolution.

let the virus problem and other security concerns endanger this

rules and regulations imposed by the corporate MIS priesthood. We cannot

are extensions of each individual’s imagination, unfettered by arbitrary

is the empowerment of the individual. At their best, personal computers

of the personal computer revolution (especially the Macintosh revolution)

are completely unnecessary and are, in fact, very dangerous. The heart

employees from joining bulletin boards or user groups! These restrictions

software. Some companies have even gone so far as to prohibit their

in locked rooms and do not permit their employees to use unapproved

doing more harm than good. For example, some companies keep computers

on the use of personal computers and personal computer software are

overreact to the threat. Organizations which impose severe restrictions

The virus problem is serious, but even more serious is the tendency to



of freeware and shareware software are remarkably virus-free.

infected commercial software, while most of the major national sources

from the truth. There have been many reported cases of (inadvertently)

viruses by merely avoiding shareware and freeware software. This is far

There is a misconception that you can protect your Macintosh against



simple things we suggest you do to protect your Mac.

viruses. See the section titled “Recommendations” for a short list of the

minutes per week to effectively protect your Macintosh against the known

should take the problem seriously. Using Disinfectant, it only takes a few

There is no need to panic over the current virus situation. However, you



Trojan horses.

Disinfectant does not attempt to address the problems of worms and



replicate.

the background while you used the program. Trojan horses do not

would be game or other program which quietly erased your hard drive in

additionally does something destructive behind your back. An example

A “Trojan horse” is a program which appears to do something useful, yet



computers in a single day.

infected and disabled several thousand government and university UNIX

The most well-known example is the Fall 1988 Internet worm, which

computers. They are not spread through the sharing of software or disks.

survive and replicate. Worms usually propagate over a network of

itself to other programs. Unlike a virus, it does not require a host to

A “worm” is a program which replicates and spreads, but does not attach



such as “worms” and “Trojan horses.”

Viruses should not be confused with other types of destructive software



against infection by any of the known non-HyperCard Mac viruses.

properly installed, the Disinfectant INIT will protect an uninfected system

Disinfectant also includes a virus protection extension (INIT). When



stacks.

“MerryXMas” viruses. These viruses only propagate between HyperCard

Disinfectant does not recognize the “Dukakis,” “Three Tunes,” or



have to get a new copy of the program.

appears, we will have to modify the program to recognize it, and you will

been configured and programmed to recognize. If a new virus or strain

Disinfectant will not recognize all possible viruses: only the ones it has



possible, repair files which have been infected by the viruses.

unknown variations and clones. It will both detect the viruses and, when

viruses. Furthermore, Disinfectant also recognizes many possible

viruses. It also recognizes all the known variations and clones of these

Disinfectant recognizes all of the currently known non-HyperCard Mac



crashes and strange behavior.

also discovered errors in most viruses which can cause unexplained

interfere in unexpected ways with other parts of the system. We have

They also live at very low levels in the operating system and can

memory and disk space and this is enough to cause problems all by itself.

problems with the normal operation of their Macintosh. Viruses occupy

unintentional. Many people who have experienced infections have reported

non-malicious viruses are always damaging, even if the damage is

are non-malicious. It is very important to realize, however, that even

We are very fortunate that to date most of the known Macintosh viruses



damage or delete files or destroy the contents of hard drives.

damage something. For example, malicious viruses often intentionally

other hand, malicious viruses, in addition to replicating, do attempt to

else innocuous, but they do not intentionally try to do any damage. On the

example, they may beep, display messages on the screen, or do something

replicate, but they do not attempt to do anything destructive. For

Viruses may be malicious or non-malicious. Non-malicious viruses



and distribution of infected software or infected disks.

computer. Viruses spread from one Macintosh to another via the sharing

files. Viruses quickly propagate to other files and disks as you use your

A virus is a piece of software which attaches itself to other programs or



continue to cause problems for some time.

years ago, viruses continue to spread rapidly and widely. Viruses will

community, although the problem is not as serious as it was several

increasingly serious problem in the computing world. In the Macintosh

Viruses and other kinds of destructive computer software have become an








åIntroduction



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,