Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!upvax!stevewa
From: stevewa@upvax.UUCP (Steve Ward)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Another STRANGE hard disk problem
Keywords: Miniscribe, motor problems
Message-ID: <464@upvax.UUCP>
Date: 2 Oct 88 18:26:38 GMT
References: <1254@imagine.PAWL.RPI.EDU> <3226@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Reply-To: stevewa@upvax.UUCP (Steve Ward)
Organization: University of Portland, Portland, OR
Lines: 58

In article <3226@ttidca.TTI.COM> hollombe@ttidcb.tti.com (The Polymath) writes:
>In article <1254@imagine.PAWL.RPI.EDU> kyriazis@turing.cs.rpi.edu (George Kyriazis) writes:
>}... I turned on my PC one nice morning and discovered
>}that the motor wasn't spinning!  ...
>}... the motor was increasing speed, till the speed
>}was above normal, the whole desk was vibrating and I thought my whole
>}PC will take off !!  I turned the PC off and on again and the disk was
>}dead again.  ... it always overspins,
>}at random intervals though.  Sometimes, it is sitting dead and starts 
>}spinning like crazy ...
>
>This week's "Time" magazine cover story mentions a computer virus that has
>this effect.  They give no details, just a virus that speeds up disk
>drives, causing them to wear out faster.
>
>-- 
>The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, hollombe@ttidca.tti.com)  Illegitimati Nil
>Citicorp(+)TTI                                                 Carborundum
>3100 Ocean Park Blvd.   (213) 452-9191, x2483
>Santa Monica, CA  90405 {csun|philabs|psivax}!ttidca!hollombe

Wouldn't the computer have to BOOT UP before a virus could have an effect
on its operation?  And if he's booting off a floppy, there's no reason why 
a virus would ever be able to load (unless it's on the floppy itself) from 
the HD since the HD isn't working.

A virus is a program.  Granted, it's a complicated program which doesn't
follow the rules of how programs normally behave, but there's just NO WAY
a program can be run without being loaded up first.

The problem described sounds like a hardware problem.  Chasing ghosts won't
solve it...the machine needs to be looked at by someone who has the proper
equipment and facilities to figure out what's going on (be it a paid technician
or not).

People are giving the virus writers more credit than they're due.  The hype
they have received in Time and elsewhere (including this forum) only entices
them to keep it up.

If you're worried about viruses, back up your HD before installing an untried
software package.  If you have any problems, LOW LEVEL format the drive and
start from scratch (obviously, you'll want to start from power-off and boot
from a known safe floppy with write-protect on to be absolutely sure).  This
is the only 100-percent reliable way to get rid of a virus that I know of.

These people are writing this trash because they want to make us change our
habits and lives.  If we adopt a paranoid attitude we've done exactly what
they want.  If we take reasonable precautions and don't talk about how amazing
these little ditties are, the feelings of power and excitement will eventually
wear off.

I hadn't anticipated being so long-winded about this, but I think it's an
important issue.

Steve
| Steve Ward Jr.                                   |                          |
| University of Portland (Just a lowly student!)   |    stevewa@upvax.UUCP    |
| Portland, Oregon                                 | !tektronix!upvax!stevewa |