-=> Quoting Kurt Wismer to Betty Holder <=-
 -=> Mocking Betty to Curtis <=-
 KW> (Mock, mOck, moCk, mocK)
 
 BH> concerned about running an antivirus, I would keep a copy on a write
 BH> protected disk and either run from the diskette, or compare it with the
 BH> copy on the hard drive on occasion like: 
 
 BH> FC /B A:PROGRAM.EXE C:\PROGRAM\PROGRAM.EXE
 
 BH> If it differs, then you know something was playing with the program.
 KW> and if it doesn't differ? what do you know then? not a whole lot
 KW> because there are stealth viruses that won't show up using the above
 KW> method... 
 
You are exactly right.  Read my other post about that.  But look at
the flipside, if it IS different, then you KNOW you have problems.
But what are the odds of getting a stealth virus as compared to some 
old virus?  If you use common sense and don't loan your disks to
every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and avoid getting files from college
campuses, libraries, and other places that attract teen punks and
the hacker type, and you do a human scan (or run a program like
CHK4BOMB) of all new executables (.COM, .EXE, .OV?, .DLL, etc.),
then you will greatly reduce your chances, but you'll never be 100%
safe, unless you only run programs that you have written on your
own machine that (original, non-viral code), then maybe then you'll
be okay.  But, let's not be too overly paranoid.  Let's not be like
the people who think if you cough on a disk or drop it in the toilet
that you can get a computer virus that way (although, the results
might be worse than a computer virus if you get a disease, or if you
damage the disk drive with moisture and debris off of the disk)
 KW> any way you look at it, a clean boot is required when dealing with a
 KW> virus infection on the system...
 
I didn't mention that because that is obvious and most who 
participate in here are experts.  I would put it on a write 
protected bootable floppy.  But we were talking about scanners
and not cleaners, although it may be a good idea to try booting
up clean before a scan too so the infected files can be found
without any tricks of a stealth virus lying to the scanner.
--- GEcho 1.11+
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