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Almathera Ten Pack 3: CDPD 3
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Almathera Ten on Ten - Disc 3: CDPD3.iso
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026-050
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scopedisk44
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bootune
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bt1.2.doc
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1995-03-18
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4KB
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86 lines
Bootune 1.2 _ Musical(?) boot track - virus test May 9,1988
The virus problem seems not to have gone away. But, like the 14th
fairy in "Sleeping Beauty," I can't stop the virus, but I can
soften the curse.
Viruses transmit themselves because the Amiga must read and execute the
code on a disk's boot tracks. Fortunately, there is only 1K of code
read in by a re-boot (although a virus could save some more code out
in tracks 81-82 if it could find enough resources). The current SCA
virus fills nearly all of the 1K allotted to it .
However, you could stop the spread of the virus to several disks
if you could tell fairly soon whether the disk on which you boot has been
infected.
The purpose, then, of Bootune is to put an easily recognizable
boot track on your disk, which would be a likely target for a virus.
Thus, when you don't get the standard boot tune, you know the workbench
(or whatever) is infected. Of course, this won't work on programs which
need their own special boot tracks (either for copy protection or
just out of a structural need). Bootune also flashes the screen from
time to time in case you don't have the audio connected.
In the previous release, I told you how to check to see if Bootune was
a virus or not. This is now largely unnecessary, as the amount of
data needed to play the four-part melody precludes any room for the
cleverness needed in a virus program. Also, I fear that giving out
such information would only serve to provide would-be infectors with
a few clues as to boot track logic. Let it suffice to say that Bootune
is physically made up of pieces of Amiga Dos's Install command, combined
with my own data.
The viral problem is so bad the the last two versions of Bootune, which
had rudimentary viral killers in them as well as a melody, had very bad
side effects when confronted with a real virus. This version makes no attempt
to touch the thing, leaving that job to other programs. This gives me
a few bytes leeway to make more complicated data than in the previous
releases.
I also used to give the data format for the tune data, which, when
combined with the industrious use of NewZap or some such utility,
would allow your own custom tune and flash display to come up. It would
be really hard to try this without the tools I used to construct the thing,
and one typo could possibly do damage to your disk drive or other tender
parts in the Amiga underbelly. With persistant hounding, I might be
persuaded to cave in to your request.
You also have three other things going for you with this program:
1) If you can't stand the show, hit the left button and it will stop
on the next beat. This gives you good training for holding the left
button down during a boot, which disables the standard strain of the SCA
Virus!
2) A clever virus would have to try pretty hard to be a virus and pretend
it is this musical boot track.
3) This boot tune is more fun than the normal Install!
Obviously , I would very much like this entire arc-package to be transmitted
together - since this doc and the verification files are needed.
In lieu of shareware contributions, why not donate some money or time
to the Gay Men's Health Crisis or similar AIDS research/coping foundation?
There are more viruses out there than in here!
Incidentally, have fun!!! This is a silly something
masquerading as a virus prevention tool!
JHH Lowengard, (and Carl W. Stalling)
43 w 16th street, apt 2D
New York City, NY 10011-6320
(contact me for source / advice)