Conference 7.286::atarist

    
    you should boot up the known clean disk and then kill the virus on the
    infected disk before it had the chance to jump to memory. Then shut off
    the machine again to be sure your memory is clean. If you have a
    harddisk, then you should boot up without the harddisk and then kill
    the virus. If the virus is already on your harddisk, then use virus-
    killers that check the HD, like Sagrotan.
    
    Bernd
    
    

    Jonathon,                           
    
    I get ST format and ST user too, and always check the cover disks with
    UVK for boot sector viruses before using them. I don't check for link
    viruses, though. UVK has not reported any problems so far. 
    
    Which type of virus is this (ie boot sector or link ?) Have you tried
    the suspected infected cover disks with UVK? Can you tell me which ones
    they are so I can double check mine?
    
    Sorry Jonathon! Lots of questions for you but few answers!
    
    
    Tony I

    Sort of a side issue...how come we're always hearing about infected
    disks being given away with the magazines in the UK?  Is it a tradition
    or something?  8^)
    
    Seriously, have the publishers figured out how these disks are getting
    infected?
    
    						Brain

    I get these coverdisks too. Do you know which issue of ST FORMAT or ST
    USER is suspect? I have also got NEODESK but I do not as a matter of
    course check my Cover Disks (trusting soul that I am). I better get
    checking.
    BTW, when checking some other disks a while back, I noticed the "E" on
    one of my disks; I nearly died of fright. It turned out to be an
    executable boot sector on a disk which I believe has GDOS on it!
    
    Norman

    There has been 1 serious case that I know about of a UK magazine
    putting an infected disk on their cover. Jonathon only suspects the
    magaazine disks at the moment because they are the only new "foreign"
    disks he has introduced into his system. We don't know for sure that
    was the source.
    
    Tony I

    Re .-1
    
    This is true. I do not want to place the blame on either of the
    magazines I mentioned. I just suggest that it is POSSIBLE that they
    were the source because I have not bought any other s/w recently.
    
    It will be interesting to read next month's editions to see if anyone
    else got infected. 
    
    I do not religiously check every disk I get for viruses either, so
    it is possible that the source of the infection was from any of a
    number of PD disks I have had for some time but not used much.
    
    What I am really interested in knowing is what the Ghost Virus does...
    does anyone know this ??
    
    Cheers,
    
    Jonathan

I think I may have picked up a virus also. Symptoms are that for periods of time
you move mouse up and down pointer on desktop moves down and up, and then it 
switches back to normal for a bit. One of my more informed colleagues suggested
that this was the aforementioned Ghost virus.

I have not been able to check my disks as I do not have any virus combat software 
unfortunately Robocod took preference.

The moral of this story is that when I first detected the virus I was looking
so see if anything useful was put on the February and March ST User cover disks.
It was an ST User cover disk which contained a virus previously.

Heres to cheaper magazines with no crummy cover disks which are more trouble 
than they are worth. (Saying that I havent checked out the full version of 
HiSoft Harlekin given away on April cover disk!)

Aston

    Yup, for sure that is the Ghost Virus. I looked up the symptoms from an
    article in one of the ST magazines (the haave their uses 8-)
    
    I am now pure and clean again having spent hours going through my
    diskette collection and blasting numerous copies of the aforementioned
    nasty. I used PVK (professional Virus Killer) to do the job and I must
    admit that its a very nice program too. It was given away on one of the
    cover disks (so they are not always more trouble than they are worth)
    
    Thanks to all those who responded to this base note with advice and
    help. MMMmmmmm I wonder if I have learnt my lesson ???
    
    
    Time will tell.
    
    
    Jonathan 

Jonathan,

Did you find out where the virus came from ? In particular, does it still
look as though it was on a cover disk ?

I must admit, I've been assuming that since the one recorded incident of a
cover disk having a virus on it the publishers are being ultra-cautious, so
I don't routinely check cover disks for viruses (virii ?). Maybe I should
start !

Cheers,

    Derek.

    Hi Derek,
    
    
    No, not categorically. To be honest I'm just glad to be rid of the
    thing though I'm not sure where ELSE it might have come from
    
    
    Cheers,
    
    Jonathan

If I'm preaching to the converted - then I apologise, but don't forget that
Neodesk will show an E in the floppy's window if the boot sector is executable.

So if you use <say> the GE-Soft hard disk adapter, it uses an executable boot 
sector on the floppy in drive A to point to drive C as the boot device. (Or words
to that effect).

Kill the boot sector on the floppy and you'll not be able to boot from the hard 
disk.

Also don't forget the old rat-trap where yo ugo around zapping all the executable
boot sectors only to find that you can't play your favourite games any more.

Like I said - sorry if I'm preaching to the converted.

Tony