TIP: Click on subject to list as thread! ANSI
echo: virus_info
to: KURT WISMER
from: LEWIN EDWARDS
date: 1996-12-18 19:43:00
subject: Re: PC viruses and Apple

LE>> What on EARTH are you talking about? FORMAT wipes a 
LE>> diskette's bootsector (though not a fixed disk's mbr, only 
LE>> a logical partition's).
KW> try it without the /u switch with msdos and see what you get... make
Exactly the same result, also with /q. I think the reason it rewrites the 
bootsector even when doing a quick format or just a verify, is so that if the 
disk was previously bootable in some magic fashion (certain old games, for 
instance), instead of the bootsector jumping into thin air and crashing the 
machine, it will say "not a system disk".
KW> sure you write garbage to the bootsector first so you can see if it gets
KW> changed...
LE>> In OS/2:
LE>> FORMAT A:
LE>> Reboot with the disk in A:. You'll see two OS/2 error 
KW> logic error... try it twice in ms dos, instead of using os/2... dos 
format 
KW> very well be incapable of using the format produced by os/2 and thus 
would 
Nope. OS/2's diskette format is FAT12, just the same as DOS. Anyway, your 
comment above about writing garbage into the bootsector would also invalidate 
this test, because the BPB would be trashed and the disk would be unreadable 
(you try editing part of the bootsector on a disk, then do a DIR of it under 
MS-DOS).
-- Lewin A.R.W. Edwards [Team OS/2]  Tel 0412809805 * http://www.zws.com/
--- MsgedSQ/2 3.35
---------------
* Origin: ZWSBBS +61-3-98276881 (V.FC)/+61-3-98276277 (V.34) (3:634/396)

SOURCE: echomail via exec-pc

Email questions or comments to sysop@ipingthereforeiam.com
All parts of this website painstakingly hand-crafted in the U.S.A.!
IPTIA BBS/MUD/Terminal/Game Server List, © 2025 IPTIA Consulting™.