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Turnbull China Bikeride
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Turnbull China Bikeride - Disc 2.iso
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STUTTGART
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FROMUTS
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ICONSEARCH
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!IVSearch
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1991-05-02
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4KB
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This is a program to 'search out and destroy' the 'Icon' virus, which is
identified by a sprite file with the name 'Icon', being present inside
application directories, especially if present in many such applications
on different discs. It is not a sprite, and trying to load up the
file into !Paint will give an error.
The virus itself is harmless, it will not cause any loss of data. It is,
however, a nuisance, and it is easily spread.
This virus loads up into the computer from an infected disc when it is
catalogued ie. when you click on the drive icon and a display is brought
up. Thereafter, it can copy itself onto other discs that were previously
unaffected when they are similarly displayed. It is also possible for the
same disc to be infected more than once, and so it is possible for multiple
copies of the virus to be loaded into the machine. It can also be copied
onto a hard disc or a network, and it may be found anywhere within the
directory structure. It only affects applications eg. !Draw, !Edit,
!Paint, ie. programs that have their own picture on a disc display and begin
with a ! character. It also commonly affects the !System directory. Discs and
directories not containing applications will not be affected with this virus.
'IVSearch' is a program that will check every part of a floppy disc, hard
disc or any other such filing system. It is strongly advised to check EVERY
floppy disc you possess, also the hard disc if you have one, and also the
network if you use one. Network users - see later.
Load the program by double-clicking on it, and it will then install itself
on the icon bar. A click on its icon with either the select or adjust button
will bring up a window; the menu button will give you the option of quitting
the program.
The window shows some numbers at the top - these are adfs drives. Clicking
on any of them will highlight it and also update the display below it. Drives
0 to 3 are floppy drives (0 and 1 being the most commonly used) and drives
4 and 5 are hard discs. If you only have one floppy drive, it is drive 0.
If you only have one hard disc, it will be drive 4.
The next part is named 'Device identifier'. This is the prefix given in the
directory name when a disc is displayed on the screen eg. adfs: RAM: Net:
By clicking in this writeable icon, the device identifier can be altered
so that other filing systems and/or drive numbers can be checked. When the
drive has been entered, simply click on 'Go' and the drive will be checked.
The bottom section of the window is used whilst the program is running. The
box after 'Searching...' shows how the program is progressing through the
disc. If the virus is found, then the section 'Repairing...' will show the
offending part. This program will then correct that application, so that the
virus is removed.
When the program has finished, you can insert further discs and check them
in a similar manner. DO NOT bring up their directory display - this could
cause the virus to load up, if it is present, or re-infect the disc again.
When you have finished using IVSearch, reset the computer to clear out any
virus that may have loaded.
Note: if you use archiving software (eg. !Spark) it is possible that this
virus has been incorporated into any archives you have made. Check any
archive for the presence of the virus if this is the case. It is only
necessary to check archives of applications (beginning with a ! character);
data is not affected.
Network users - It is necessary to check the entire disc. This will require
owner access (privilege) to the root directory $. Note also that deep
directory structures can often give rise to errors ('Net Error'). This is due
to the network software itself, as even the normal Desktop operations such as
deleting can fail in this situation. If this happens, you will have to set
your current directory. Press function key f12 and enter :
*DIR net:$.Apps.General.Work.....etc
ie. the directory shown in 'Searching...' when the error occured. Set the
'Device identifier' to just net:@ and click on 'Go'. If this situation
happens further, you have to progressively set the current directory (using
*DIR ....) further into the directory structure, and scan from there on.
Remember to scan the rest of the disc afterwards.