Eric Adams wrote in a message to All:
 EA> I have come across several hundered virii in a disk a friend gave
 EA> me (Yeah, I thought he was joking when he said that it was a disk
 EA> full of virii and a batch file to execute them all topping it all
 EA> off.)  He "collects virii." Have any of you ever heard of doing
 EA> stuff like that?  
Yup. If I could get a source I'd do the same, although mostly I'd be after 
the source code itself.
 EA> Anyone ever thought about why one might do this? 
Interest, study, ideas. Perhaps they also want it to release them although 
I've yet to come across someone wanting to collect the code for harmfull 
reasons.
Several people like to use them to trial various anti-viral programs, see how 
good they are. I would study the code on the better ones, try to find a few 
new tricks (for constructive reasons). The reasons are probably as many as 
the number of people who do collect virii.
 EA> He just says he "likes to collect things that can be destructive or
 EA> constructive depending on how you look at it."  He's minoring in
 EA> computer science, go figure.  Anyways, straying off the topic.
 EA> Anyone else do this?
Not yet, but if I had a way to get my hands on a few I would.
As long as he's not releasing them and using all possible effort to prevent 
them from spreading, what's the problem? If he isn't taking precautions, or 
is releasing them, then 'accidently' format the disks they're on.
Dave
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--- timEd 1.10
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