Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!labrea!agate!helios.ee.lbl.gov!lll-tis!mordor!joyce!zodiac!meridian!pkahn
From: pkahn@meridian.ads.com (Phil Kahn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: New Mac Virus?
Keywords: virus, virus, and virus?
Message-ID: <6017@zodiac.UUCP>
Date: 7 Nov 88 17:39:14 GMT
References: <819@nic.MR.NET>
Sender: news@zodiac.UUCP
Reply-To: pkahn@meridian.UUCP (Phil Kahn)
Organization: Advanced Decision Systems, Mt. View, CA (415) 941-3912
Lines: 23

In article <819@nic.MR.NET> zeke@gonzo.eta.com (Robert Scott) writes:
>Ouch!  I think my machine has been infected by a virus, but
>it doesn't match the description of any I know about.

This virus scare is getting a bit out of hand.  Computer viruses are
much like human viruses (e.g., AIDS); if you show care and practice
"safe file transfer," then you are likely OK. Make sure you have
vaccine, ensure backups are maintained on a timely basis, only bring
programs onto your hard disk if you are confident they have been
tested, and if you want to use a program which you're not sure of,
boot off a floppy, dismount your hard disk, and run it off of floppy
to check it out. If you do this, you have reasonable certainty that
every little abnormal belch by your Mac isn't a viral attack.

That aside, the very first thing anyone should do when they have a
problem such as was described here (bootup problem, strange system
behavior, etc), is boot off of a system floppy, delete the system from
your hard disk system folder and replace it with a new one.  Most
often these problems occur because the system somehow became
corrupted. Don't ask me how this happens, seems like this shouldn't be
possible, but it does happen.

phil...