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From: pnl@hpfinote.HP.COM (Peter Lim)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Write protect for hard drive
Message-ID: <19450061@hpfinote.HP.COM>
Date: 2 Jun 90 17:28:58 GMT
References: <1323@hq.af.mil>
Organization: Hewlett Packard CICD
Lines: 41

WAIT A MINUTE !!!   WHAT ARE WE DISCUSSING HERE  !!!!!??????

I thought the original intend is to WRITE protect the hard disk so that
no program (especially virus) can write to the hard disk.

Now, in my opinion, program like (what's the name) which write-protect
the hard disk behaves like a virus in itself --- scramble the FAT, and
allow you only to write to disk through that program. If that program
ever crash, you hard disk is history. Don't even think about recovering
it with things like NORTON's.

A non-sophisticated virus only need to know how to by-pass that program
and thrash your disk. It doesn't need to know how to handle your disk
properly  :-).  So, this stuff is pretty much useless against a virus.
Sounds more like a hindrance to normal programs. I know of someone who
used something similar and had to reformat his hard disk 3 times
because he forgotten the password  :-(.

Why don't we try a hardware approach ? Find the WRITE line in your
hard disk cable, cut it and insert a simple switch to disable it at
the flick of a switch. This ought to be bullet-proof as long as you
can ensure that nothing strange happen the moment you flick the switch.
Of course, before doing this, do a full backup of your disk, then if
you make a total boo-boo, you only need to replace the cable  :-).

To think of installing a virus on my computer ??? Remember the bad old
days of protected software which encrypt something on you hard disk
to ensure that only one copy is installed at any one time ? Ended up
with lots of disgusted users who trashed their hard disk and found that
they can't install the program again  :-).

Just a .02 dollars' thought.


Regards,                       ## Life is fast enough as it is ........
Peter Lim.                     ## .... DON'T PUSH IT !!          >>>-------,
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  ... also at: pnl@hpfipnl.HP.COM            Singapore   0410.           SPLAT !