VirusX - Fourth in a growing line of "X-Utilities".
- By Steve Tibbett -
V1.01 Note: 1.01 is just 1.0 with a bug fixed. Also
cleaned up the source a tad (one less Goto).
The Virus is something that's been following us around
for a couple of months now, and I think it's about time
we got rid of it for good.
There are a number of CLI-based Virus Checkers out there,
which do their job just fine, but if you're not into
using CLI, what do you do? You use VirusX!
Please, I encourage you to give this program to anybody
who might have the virus. Including your local dealer -
some of the dealers in this area have the virus all over
their disks, which they allow customers to copy, and
they don't do anything about it because they don't know
how. VirusX makes it extremely simple.
You can put VirusX in your Startup-Sequence. When run,
it will open a small window so you know it's there (and
it will display the occasional message in it). Whenever
a disk is inserted into any of the 3.5" drives, that disk
is automagically checked for the SCA virus, and also
checked to see if it's boot sector is "Standard". If
the disk has a nonstandard boot sector, it is either
a new form of virus which I don't know about yet, or it
is a commercial program which uses the boot block for
something constructive (like booting their game).
If VirusX finds a boot block it is suspicious about, it
will present the user with a requester either warning
him that the disk has the SCA virus, or telling him that
the boot code is nonstandard. In either case, he is
given the option to either ignore it, or to Remove it.
If the user selects Remove, after he says he's SURE he
wants to rewrite the disk's boot sector (Remember: Never
rewrite the boot sector of a commercial program unless
you KNOW that program doesn't use it for something
else. If the program gives you the AmigaDOS window before
running, you know it is safe to repair that disk.).
The boot code written back to the disk by VirusX is the
same boot code that the AmigaDOS INSTALL command (and
it's compatible counterpart on one of the fish disks)
uses.
If you run across a strain of the virus, or any other virus
that VirusX doesn't specifically warn of, PLEASE send
me a copy of a disk with that virus on it! I want to
keep VirusX current, and to do so, I need the viruses.
I have heard tell of two other viruses besides SCA, but
I don't know much about them - yet.
Of course, there are those of you who are thinking that
I am some nut case trying to spread my own virus hidden
under the guise of a virus checker. Well, just for you,
I've included the C source code. Please, if you don't
trust me, don't discard a useful utility as untrustworthy
for no reason, CHECK THE SOURCE! Recompile it if you
think I'm trying to slip a fast one on you. I just
want to see the virus out of all of our lives.
I want feedback on this! Send me a letter!
This program is Copyrighted, but is freely redistributable
(It's NOT Shareware). Do what you want with it, but
Please don't use it for evil purposes. That's what I'm
trying to prevent.
My address:
Steve Tibbett
2710 Saratoga Pl. #1108
Gloucester, Ontario
K1T 1Z2
My BBS: OMX BBS, 613-731-3419.
One final note: If you click in VirusX's window, the screen's
title bar will show information on how many disks VirusX has
looked at, and how many it has found the virus on.
Another final note: If you stick a -C on the command line, VirusX
will check all disks in all drives for viruses immediately. If you
have a hard drive with a specific boot disk, and you don't take that
disk out during the whole session, it would otherwise never be checked.
Using the -C is a good idea, and is the default if you run from Workbench.
From CLI you must specify it, just in case somebody out there doesn't want
it.
