Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hafro!isgate!krafla!frisk From: frisk@rhi.hi.is (Fridrik Skulason) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: virus Message-ID: <1528@krafla.rhi.hi.is> Date: 17 Feb 90 17:41:50 GMT References: <437@matrox.com> <1888@milton.acs.washington.edu> <1515@krafla.rhi.hi.is> <295@pallas.athenanet.com> Reply-To: frisk@rhi.hi.is (Fridrik Skulason) Organization: University of Iceland (RHI) Lines: 24 In article <295@pallas.athenanet.com> kabra437@pallas.UUCP (Ken Abrams) writes: >The original post did not say (nor imply) that the virus would DO anything >(ie. executable code) within the CMOS once it got there. Well, if it does not do anything then it is, by definition, not a virus. A *trojan* that writes to the CMPS is an entirely different matter - I have heard of one or two such programs. The reason I said (in my earlier note) >> THERE IS NO SUCH VIRUS!!!! is that I am getting a bit tired of the virus vs. trojan confusion. A program is not a virus unless it replicates - and since the code in CMOS can never be executed it would take a co-operating process to produce a virus. A virus might corrupt the data in the CMOS, but it would be useless to place executable code there. -- Fridrik Skulason - University of Iceland, Computing Services. frisk@rhi.hi.is Technical Editor, Virus Bulletin (UK).