VirusX - Fourth in a growing line of "X-Utilities". - By Steve Tibbett - V1.01 Note: 1.01 is just 1.0 with a bug fixed. Also cleaned up the source a tad (one less Goto). The Virus is something that's been following us around for a couple of months now, and I think it's about time we got rid of it for good. There are a number of CLI-based Virus Checkers out there, which do their job just fine, but if you're not into using CLI, what do you do? You use VirusX! Please, I encourage you to give this program to anybody who might have the virus. Including your local dealer - some of the dealers in this area have the virus all over their disks, which they allow customers to copy, and they don't do anything about it because they don't know how. VirusX makes it extremely simple. You can put VirusX in your Startup-Sequence. When run, it will open a small window so you know it's there (and it will display the occasional message in it). Whenever a disk is inserted into any of the 3.5" drives, that disk is automagically checked for the SCA virus, and also checked to see if it's boot sector is "Standard". If the disk has a nonstandard boot sector, it is either a new form of virus which I don't know about yet, or it is a commercial program which uses the boot block for something constructive (like booting their game). If VirusX finds a boot block it is suspicious about, it will present the user with a requester either warning him that the disk has the SCA virus, or telling him that the boot code is nonstandard. In either case, he is given the option to either ignore it, or to Remove it. If the user selects Remove, after he says he's SURE he wants to rewrite the disk's boot sector (Remember: Never rewrite the boot sector of a commercial program unless you KNOW that program doesn't use it for something else. If the program gives you the AmigaDOS window before running, you know it is safe to repair that disk.). The boot code written back to the disk by VirusX is the same boot code that the AmigaDOS INSTALL command (and it's compatible counterpart on one of the fish disks) uses. If you run across a strain of the virus, or any other virus that VirusX doesn't specifically warn of, PLEASE send me a copy of a disk with that virus on it! I want to keep VirusX current, and to do so, I need the viruses. I have heard tell of two other viruses besides SCA, but I don't know much about them - yet. Of course, there are those of you who are thinking that I am some nut case trying to spread my own virus hidden under the guise of a virus checker. Well, just for you, I've included the C source code. Please, if you don't trust me, don't discard a useful utility as untrustworthy for no reason, CHECK THE SOURCE! Recompile it if you think I'm trying to slip a fast one on you. I just want to see the virus out of all of our lives. I want feedback on this! Send me a letter! This program is Copyrighted, but is freely redistributable (It's NOT Shareware). Do what you want with it, but Please don't use it for evil purposes. That's what I'm trying to prevent. My address: Steve Tibbett 2710 Saratoga Pl. #1108 Gloucester, Ontario K1T 1Z2 My BBS: OMX BBS, 613-731-3419. One final note: If you click in VirusX's window, the screen's title bar will show information on how many disks VirusX has looked at, and how many it has found the virus on. Another final note: If you stick a -C on the command line, VirusX will check all disks in all drives for viruses immediately. If you have a hard drive with a specific boot disk, and you don't take that disk out during the whole session, it would otherwise never be checked. Using the -C is a good idea, and is the default if you run from Workbench. From CLI you must specify it, just in case somebody out there doesn't want it.