Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!iuvax!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!asm31426
From: asm31426@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (_Honest_Puck_)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: Re: Potential for HyperCard virus
Keywords: virus
Message-ID: <1990Oct14.223456.17822@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 14 Oct 90 22:34:56 GMT
References: <9113@milton.u.washington.edu> <1990Oct12.224133.11471@hayes.ims.alaska.edu>
Sender: news@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (News)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 31

In article <1990Oct12.224133.11471@hayes.ims.alaska.edu> ftdkl@acad3.fai.alaska.edu writes:

>With one new feature of HyperCard 2.0 (can't Abort) comes a new potential
>for a menace.
>If the can't abort feature is set then the person can't stop running scripts
>by typing command-period.
>This combined with HyperTalks ability to modify script bodies lends itself
>to script viruses.  

I've not seen HC 2, yet, so this may seem a dumb question, but how is the
can't abort feature set? Is it done something like "set cantAbort to x"?

If so, a trick I used to stop userLevel changes may help here...

I got tired of stacks that changed the userLevel so I couldn't see the
scripts, so i included the following into my Home stack...

on set what1 what2
   if what1 is "userLevel" or what2 is "userLevel" then exit set
   else pass set
end set

(or something like that ... the script's not sitting in front of me at the
moment.)

This would catch "set userLevel to x" and "set the userLevel to x" and
stop them... Granted this only works if the change is under script control...
depending upon how cantAbort is set, this may (or may not) help prevent the
viruses you fear.

--- Aaron Magill -- asm31426@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu