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|Dº ^0Diskussion |DºÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ^1On The Editor's Desk |DÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͺ ^0Diskussion |Dº
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^C^1On the Editor's Desk
^Cby
^CDaniel Tobias

   In this column, I get another chance to rant and rave, and spout off my 
opinions, as if "Diskovery" wasn't enough of this.  However, this column has a 
tighter focus, concerning interesting products I've encountered, and news in the 
computer field.

   Most of the products we receive for review are software or hardware packages 
for personal computers.  However, there are some occasional weird items to 
relieve the dullness; I'm glad there's somebody in this all-too-serious field 
who's still got a sense of humor.  Here are some of the more unusual items that 
have come in lately:


   On Line: Computer Access Center (21 E. Main St., Fredonia, NY 14063;
(716) 679-0100; CompuServe 70007,1636) has released a product they call ^1The 
^1Chocolate 'Chip' Cookie^0.  These aren't for eating; their chips are of the 
silicon kind.  Otherwise, they look and smell just like the edible kind.
If you try to take a "byte" out of one, it could be hazardous to your teeth: 
whatever they're made of (the label says "Ingredients: White powdery stuff, 
brown stuff, microchips"), they're very solid.  There isn't any real use for 
these things, but they make a cute novelty gift.


   Advanced System Consultants (21115 Devonshire St. Suite 329, Chatsworth, CA 
91311) has a few novelty items with a serious message.  They're standing up for 
the old "classic" PC architecture against the new PS/2 models, by releasing 
buttons and T-shirts showing "PS/2" with a slash over it, and the message "Just 
say no!"  I'm not sure which side to be on in this struggle, since both the old 
and the new have advantages depending on your intended application.  I'm of the 
firm believer that what computer you choose to buy and use is your own business, 
and it's wrong to attack others for the model they choose to compute with.  I've 
been through many of these computer wars over the last ten years; Apple vs. 
Radio Shack, Commodore vs. Atari, Apple vs. IBM, PC-XT vs. PS/2, ad nauseum.  
Enough of this: a computer is a general-purpose device that can be used for a 
wide range of applications regardless of what brand it is.  Different models 
have strengths and weaknesses which must be considered based on your own needs.  
The anti-PS/2 people have a reasonable point that many are being deluded into 
buying the PS/2 because it's the "latest and greatest" from IBM, even if an old 
PC would do the job fine at a much lower cost.  However, the PS/2 architecture 
is more powerful in some ways, which may be important enough in some cases to 
justify a switch; hence "Just say no" is an overly simplistic statement.  Don't 
get bullied by peer pressure in either direction; make up your own mind what 
machine is best for you. 


   PC Health Products (2406 Hadley Lane, Suite 1, Redondo Beach, CA 90278) has a 
few products of novelty interest.  Their ^1PC Vaccine^0 software package supposedly
inoculates your PC against PCitus.  What it actually does is show a cute display 
of a syringe injecting the computer.  ^1Bug Repellent^0 is an actual spray can, 
claiming to fight against personal computer bugs.  However, it's got a warning 
not to spray your PC (I guess the stuff could harm a computer's innards), which 
takes much of the fun out of it.  Actually, the stuff is static spray, to 
minimize environmental static.  I'm not sure what you should actually spray with 
it.  These are mildly amusing, and might be of novelty gift interest if you get 
into this sort of stuff.


   Speaking of computer diseases, the "PC Virus" is no joking matter.  There are 
many reports of viruses infecting computers large and small.  A virus is a 
program that is designed to install itself onto any system that it is run on, 
and then copy itself onto other systems and disks whenever it gets the chance.  
If you should boot an "infected" disk on your PC, then later insert another disk 
in the course of running different programs, you might end up spreading the 
virus when you give the second disk to a friend.  Some malicious programmers 
("hackers" in the negative sense of the word) delight in spreading these 
dangerous programs.  Some are relatively "benign," outputting a message like 
"Merry Christmas" or "Save the Whales."  Others intentionally trash a user's 
hard disk.  There's one reported to wipe out all hard disks that it finds itself 
on when Friday the 13th rolls around.  All viruses, even the "benign" ones, can 
cause much mischief when they tamper with your system files.

   The concept of computer viruses has been around for years (I remember hearing 
a university lecture on the subject at least three years ago), but it's now 
gotten much prominence, and is even mentioned on TV newscasts.  Despite all this 
hysteria, viruses still have not become a major problem to most PC users, and 
only a small number of actual cases of viral damage have been reported.  Hence, 
there's no need to get excessively paranoid, but there are a few precautions you 
may wish to take.

   The first and most important is to back up your data regularly.  Make backups 
of your hard disk on a regular basis (I just noticed it's been nearly two months 
since I've backed up mine; do as I say, not as I do!), and back up any floppies 
with important, irreplaceable data as well.

   You might also wish to exercise caution regarding the software you run from 
external sources.  Commercial software obtained in shrink-wrapped packaging is 
usually safe, as are diskmagazines like BIG BLUE DISK which are well-tested 
before they are released.  Public domain and shareware programs are more 
suspect, particularly when downloaded from bulletin board systems.  You may want 
to wait and see if the BBS gets messages from other users experiencing virus 
trouble with a particular file before you try running it yourself.  Since many 
viruses transport themselves on the MS-DOS COMMAND.COM file, it's safer to 
always boot your system from your hard disk or a known system disk, rather than 
using bootable disks obtained from elsewhere.  If you have more than one PC, you 
might wish to use only one of them for running newly-obtained programs for test 
purposes, and leave all your important data on other machines where it's safe.  
If you do this, be particularly careful about sharing disks between the 
different machines, since once a virus takes hold, it might manage to transport 
itself through the most innocent DOS commands.  Once you have run a program for 
a long period of time on the "test" machine (try setting the system date to 
Friday the 13th to see if that triggers a virus), and no problems result, it's 
reasonably safe to transport it to other machines.

   Symptoms of possible virus infection include excessive delays in the 
operation of programs and commands which previously ran more quickly, and 
mysterious changes in the date and size of program files.  You might 
particularly want to look at the COMMAND.COM file on the disk you boot from, and 
compare its size and date to the COMMAND.COM on your original system disk.  
These should be identical, unless you've upgraded your DOS in the meantime. 

   Some programs have been written to detect and combat viruses.  We'll see if 
we can arrange to publish some of these in future issues of BIG BLUE DISK.

   I didn't mean to scare you or make you paranoid; like I said earlier, viruses 
are not greatly widespread at the present.  However, this article is intended to 
make you more alert to this potential problem, and encourage you to take steps 
to preserve your valuable data.