3.569 virus, cont. (54)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Wed, 11 Oct 89 18:25:44 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 569. Wednesday, 11 Oct 1989.
(1) Date: Tue, 10 Oct 89 15:13:04 MDT (10 lines)
From: John Morris <JMORRIS@UALTAVM>
Subject: Further to the virus
(2) Date: Wed, 11 Oct 89 08:52:13 EDT (24 lines)
From: Ken Steele <KSTEELE@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Communicable e-diseases
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 89 15:13:04 MDT
From: John Morris <JMORRIS@UALTAVM>
Subject: Further to the virus
Despite the risk of intercontinental e-laughter, I confess that
in a fit of uncontroled cuteness I labeled my hard drive. This accounts
for the mystery hidden file mentioned in my previous message on the virus.
I have since reset my system clock to Thursday and Friday the 12th and 13th,
and nothing untoward happened. Nonetheless, more information on the Columbus
Day virus would be appreciated.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------28----
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 89 08:52:13 EDT
From: Ken Steele <KSTEELE@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Communicable e-diseases
The popular media have been making the usual mountain out of a viral
molehill, although a number of more thorough articles have noted that
the "Columbus Day" virus is not expected to be widespread at all.
Since the one thing that is clearly known about the virus is its trigger
date, which it will determine no doubt from the system clock, doesn't
it make sense to simply postpone personal disaster by turning back the
system calendar a month? Such "Data Savings Time" would give the
concerned user a month to back-up data, and to assess the local impact
of the virus. If after a month, no fatal cases are reported in Canada,
or even in Toronto, I will certainly no longer be concerned about my
own system. On the other hand, if all of BITNET is wiped out overnight,
I'll have to find that anti-viral program IBM released this week.
This may not reach HUMANIST members in time to help, and it may be
too simple-minded a solution, but it seems adequate for my own data
security needs.
Ken Steele
University of Toronto