HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ISB202REID@redgum.qut.edu.au (Did somebody say Coffee ??????)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Re: Anyone for a Feist ??? (PC)
Date: 2 Sep 92 00:51:11 GMT

>>A few days ago I came across a machine absolutely
>>covered by the feist virus..
>
>Hm - strange.  As fas as I know, Feist is unknown outside Russia. 
>
>>Clean 93 wouldn't remove it, although it was in F-Prot 2.04a's
>>database, wouldn't even recoginise it !!
>
>In that case there are two possibilities:
>
>	1) This is a false alarm - F-PROT detects Feist without problems,
>	   I just checked.
>
>	2) This is a new virus, that (whatever other program you used)
>	   just happens to mis-identify as Feist.  In this case I would
>	   need a sample of it to update F-PROT.
>
>However, It might also be interesting to see what other scanners report, or
>what F-PROT's Quick and Heuristic scan report.
>
>- -frisk

Ok, update time.

The virus I found wasn't the feist virus.  I viewed the file using a
simple file viewer and found the string "No Frills 2.0" towards the
end.

F-prot 2.05 does NOT have this virus in its database however the
heuristic scan does say that is almost certainly a virus.

Clean 95 incorrectly identifies it as Feist.

No Frills is not in Scan 95 virlist.txt either.

Question: What does No Frills do and can it be removed.

E-mail me if you want a copy of the file.

- -Fodd

isb202reid@qut.edu.au
n1019031@water.fit.qut.edu.au
From: rslade@sfu.ca (Robert Slade)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Bull(____) Virus used for mischief (general)
Date: 2 Sep 92 19:40:28 GMT

A report in InformationWeek in the Aug. 24 edition states that someone
called a Toronto TV station and said that he had put a virus into the
Toronto Stock Exchange which would shut it down at 9:30 the next
morning.

(If true, it would have been much more likely to be a trojan rather
than a virus.)

A tech support team spent all night checking the system for "all known
viruses".

(The TSO uses PCs?)

Trading continued the next day without incident.

(I'm rather surprised that I never saw any media reports about this.)

Comment: although we all know that the existence of computer viral
programs is a real and growing problem, it is getting to the point
where false alarms are creating almost as much "damager" as the
"malware" itself.  There is still *so* much mythical information out
there, and so little hard data in the hands of the public or the
average user.
 
==============
Vancouver      ROBERTS@decus.ca         | "virtual information"
Institute for  Robert_Slade@sfu.ca      |   - technical description of
Research into  rslade@cue.bc.ca         |     marketing info disguised
User           p1@CyberStore.ca         |     as technical description
Security       Canada V7K 2G6           |            - Greg Rose
From: skrause@informatik.hu-berlin.de (Steffen Krause)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Boojum (PC)
Date: 28 Aug 92 08:32:31 GMT

Please send my any information you have about the Boojum virus ( [Boo]
in scan91.

Steffen
skrause@informatik.hu-berlin.de

- -- 
- ---------------- Steffen Krause --------------------------------------------
Zu Risiken oder Nebenwirkungen lesen Sie die Packungsbeilage und informieren
Sie Ihren Arzt oder Apotheker.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jwright@cfht.hawaii.edu (Jim Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Macintosh Anti-viral archive sites last changed 17 August 1992
Date: 1 Sep 92 18:57:43 GMT

Macintosh Anti-viral archive sites	last changed 17 August 1992

dftnic.gsfc.nasa.gov
        Brian Lev <lev@dftnic.gsfc.nasa.gov> <SDCDCL::LEV> <LEV@DFTBIT>
        This site offers the "MacSecure" package, made up of John Norstad's
        Disinfectant, and a pair of locally developed HyperCard stacks:
        Joe McMahon's "Anti-Viral Doc" and Brian Lev's "MacHelper".
        Floppy disk:
                Advanced Data Flow Technology Office
                Code 930.4
                Goddard Space Flight Center
                Greenbelt, MD 20771 (Attn: Brian Lev)
        DECnet Copy from DFTNIC::CLDATA:[ANONYMOUS_FTP.FILES.MAC]
                BinHex (ASCII) format as MACSECURE31.HQX
                binary format as MACSECURE31.SEA
        Anonymous FTP from DFTNIC.GSFC.NASA.GOV (128.183.10.3)
                BinHex (ASCII) format as [.FILES.MAC]MACSECURE31.HQX
                binary format as [.FILES.MAC]MACSECURE3.SIT

eugene.utmb.edu
        John Perry <perry@phil.utmb.edu>
        This site can be reached through anonymous ftp.
        The Macintosh anti-viral archives can be found in the
        directory /pub/virus-software/macintosh.  The IP address is
	129.109.1.21.  A backup site is maintained at beach.utmb.edu,
        IP address 129.109.1.207.  Look in [ANONYMOUS.PUB.VIRUS.MAC].

ifi.ethz.ch
        Danny Schwendener <macman@ethz.uucp>
        Interactive access through DECnet (SPAN/HEPnet):
                $SET HOST 57434  or $SET HOST AEOLUS
                Username: MAC
        Interactive access through X.25 (022847911065) or Modem 2400 bps
        (+41-1-251-6271):
                # CALL B050 <cr><cr>
                Username: MAC
        Files may also be copied via DECnet (SPAN/HEPnet) from
                57434::DISK8:[MAC.TOP.LIBRARY.VIRUS]

rascal.ics.utexas.edu
        Werner Uhrig <werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu>
        Access is through anonymous ftp, IP number is 128.83.138.20.
        Archives can be found in the directories mac/virus-catchers
        and mac/virus-docs.

src.doc.ic.ac.uk
	Lee McLoughlin <ukuug-soft@doc.ic.ac.uk>
	Automatically maintained mirror copy of the sumex archive.
	Anonymous FTP from src.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.2.1)
		cd mac/sumex/info-mac/virus
	Janet NIFTP (for UK users)
		Host: uk.ac.ic.doc.src
		User: guest
		Pass: your email address
From: mcafee@netcom.com (McAfee Associates)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: McAfee VIRUSCAN V95 uploaded to WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil (PC)
Date: 26 Aug 92 22:31:11 GMT

I have uploaded to WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil:

pd1<msdos.trojan-pro>:
SCANV95B.ZIP     VIRUSCAN V95-B system scanner for PC's
WSCAN95B.ZIP     SCAN for Windows 3.X V95-B Windows version of VIRUSCAN
NETSC95B.ZIP     NETSCAN V95-B network file server scanner
VSHLD95C.ZIP     VSHIELD V95-C virus infection prevention TSR
CLEAN95C.ZIP     CLEAN-UP V95-C virus disinfection/removal tool

WHAT'S NEW WITH VERSION 95

     Version 95 of the VIRUSCAN (SCAN, CLEAN, VSHIELD, NETSCAN, and
WSCAN) series has been released, adding 99 new viruses, for a total of
685 viruses, or counting strains, 1,401.

     Version 95 replaces V93.  A V94 was in beta-test, but we
discontinued it after reports of a Trojan horse "V94" from Monterrey,
Mexico.  In order to prevent any confusion, we have skipped ahead to
Version 95.

The current versions of the various programs are:

VIRUSCAN, NETSCAN, and WSCAN                    Version 95-B
VSHIELD and CLEAN-UP                            Version 95-C

Older V95 (and 95-B) versions were NOT uploaded to SIMTEL20, Garbo, or
any other internet sites.  V95 (the initial release) had a problem with
the /SAVE switch for all programs, and there were some message display
bugs in the VSHIELD and CLEAN-UP 95-B that required replacement with a
95-C release.

     One new option has been added to VSHIELD, the /NI6510 switch.  This
switch fixes a conflict that occurs when VSHIELD is run on a PC with a
Racal-Datacomm NI6510 network interface card.  This fix is specific to the
NI6510 and does not apply to any other product.

Validation data for the above with VALIDATE.COM is as follows:

CLEAN-UP 95C (CLEAN.EXE)            S:98,237   D:08-20-92   M1: BE92  M2: 02BB
NETSCAN B95 (NETSCAN.EXE)           S:77,976   D:08-19-92   M1: 5CFA  M2: 1DC6
SCAN FOR WINDOWS B95 (WINSTALL.EXE) S:13,269   D:08-19-92   M1: 3885  M2: 0813
SCAN FOR WINDOWS B95 (WSCAN95B.EXE) S:88,437   D:08-19-92   M1: 7FDC  M2: 146A
VIRUSCAN SCANV95B (SCAN.EXE)        S:80,073   D:08-19-92   M1: 3885  M2: 0813
VSHIELD VSHLD95C (VSHIELD.EXE)      S:44,991   D:08-21-92   M1: E7AB  M2: 0B78


Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
McAfee Associates Technical Support

- -- 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
McAfee Associates, Inc.  | Voice (408) 988-3832 | INTERNET:
3350 Scott Blvd, Bldg 14 | FAX   (408) 970-9727 | mcafee@netcom.COM
Santa Clara, California  | BBS   (408) 988-4004 | CompuServe ID: 76702,1714
95054-3107  USA          | USR HST Courier DS   | or GO MCAFEE
Support for SENTRY/SCAN/NETSCAN/VSHIELD/CLEAN/NETSHIELD/TARGET/THE CONFIG MGR.
From: barry.fagin@dartmouth.edu (Barry S. Fagin)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: hardware protection against PC viruses (PC)
Date: 24 Aug 92 16:49:47 GMT

I have recently seen some literature on ViruGuard, a PC expansion card
that claims to defeat all IBM PC viruses.  Does anybody know anything
about this?  Is it all it's cracked up to be?  Please reply to this
account; any help would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

- --BF
From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: BIOS Virus Protection (PC)
Date: 28 Aug 92 13:29:50 GMT


	 A major development seems to have quietly slipped in that
should make it possible for effective *free* reduction of risk to PC
users who have purchased their machines in the last year.

	As you may know, for some time we have been saying that the
easiest means of protection from boot sector infectors (Stoned, Azusa,
Michelangelo) is to disable floppy booting (the major source of such
infection). I have been giving away copies of NoFBoot (in the FixUtil
package at many sites) to prevent such accidental warm-booting from a
floppy however, as has been said only hardware can prevent cold floppy
booting.

	In the past, I have lauded those manufacturers (Zenith,
Tandon, NEC) that have built such protection into the BIOS. Yesterday,
I had occasion to replace the motherboard in my 386-25 (expanded from
4 to 8 MB & the machine refused to recognize the addition - turned out
to be a MB problem).

	In the process my 1989 vintage AMI BIOS (AMI, Phoenix, & Award
are the three major clone BIOS manufacturers) was replaced with an AMI
dated 5 May, 1991 and referred to as the "New" BIOS. In the "Advanced
Setup Menu" is an entry for "System Boot Up Sequence" which may be
selected as A:,C: (original flavor) or C:,A: In the second case, boot
will be from A only if C is unbootable (what the "unbootable" criteria
are, I do not know - yet). In addition, the BIOS permits password
selection for both BOOTUP and BIOS alteration.

	Now, since these setups are something that even many
technicians are not comfortable with (often people call with "slow"
PCs that recover miraculously with a proper interleave or removal of
wait states - my "new" system got a 28% Norton SI boost with proper
setup - from the factory they are set to accomodate "worst case"
peripherals & chips).

	At any rate, IMHO this is all the hardware that is necessary
for a PC to be "safe" (see my models of a year or two ago), everything
else necessary to protect a PC from anything except *possibly* a
directed attack on a specific configuration can be handled by layers
of software. (I could but today's viruses can't).

						Warmly,

							Padgett

BTW - if anyone knows where I could pick up 2 or 3 8-bit CO-AX Ethernet 
      adapters (speed not important, Novell compatability is) inexpensively
      (<$100 please, << better - used ok so long as working) so I can set up
      a permanent test site, please let me know: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com
From: UCHUCK@UNC.OIT.UNC.EDU (Chuck Bennett (919)966-1134)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Network Virus protection. Help.
Date: 20 Aug 92 13:03:13 GMT

We currently have 10 DOS based machines and 10 Macintosh machines
spread out in 10 medical student labs.  Although we have been very
lucky and only the Mac's have ever been infected with a virus, we are
about to network these machines together.  We will be using Novell
Netware 3.11 with an Intel 486 server running Windows 3.1 on the DOS
machines and System 7.01 on the Mac's.

What are the best (cost/capability) approaches to virus protection
that we should consider.  Are there any virus protection packages that
are NLM's and are they reasonably priced?  Based on discussions on
this list I have been leaning toward using F-PROTECT for the DOS
machines and DISINFECTANT for the Mac's.  Of course I will gladly pay
the shareware fees.  I would even entertain purchasing a set of
protectors if there are significant operational or detection
advantages.

Any help would be appreciated.

Chuck Bennett                       INTERNET #1: uchuck@unc.oit.unc.edu
Medical Sciences Teaching Labs      INTERNET #2: uchuck@med.unc.edu
CB# 7520  University of NC          BITNET:      uchuck@unc
Chapel Hill, NC  27599-7520         PHONE:       919-966-1134
Newsgroups: comp.msdos.programmer,comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.os.msdos.programmer
From: probert@fires1.uucp (Neal W. Probert)
Subject: Are there any DOS 5 updates or patches out there ?
Reply-To: probert@fires1.srl.ford.com
Organization: Scientific Research Labs, Ford Motor Company
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 18:33:51 GMT

We are experiencing problems with edit, emm386 in DOS 5 as well as serial
communications problems with pcAnywhere.  Are there DOS 5 updates and/or
patches to fix such problems?

Thanks.

-- 
    FORD       | Neal W. Probert   E3154 SRL    | probert@fires1.srl.ford.com
 SCIENTIFIC    | Ford Scientific Research Labs  | 313-845-8178 FAX 313-337-5581
RESEARCH LABS  | Dearborn, MI 48121-2053        |
Newsgroups: comp.programming
From: berlin@is.morgan.com (Alexander Berlin)
Subject: Re: How to decide if a point is inside a polygon?
Organization: Morgan Stanley - IS
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 17:42:03 GMT

In article <schnitzi.715017774@eola.cs.ucf.edu>, schnitzi@cs.ucf.edu (Mark Schnitzius) writes:
|> berlin@is.morgan.com (Alexander Berlin) writes:
|> 
|> >When drawind the line in any direction, you want to avoid
|> >crossing corners of the polygon. So, make sure no one of the given points
|> >(that make polygon) belongs to the line.
|> 
|> >        A           B
|> >        .___________.
|> >         \         /
|> >          \  Y.   /
|> >           \  |  /
|> >    X       \ | /
|> >    .________\|/___________________
|> >              |
|> >              | C
|> >              |
|> 
|> >In the above example X is outside triangle ABC, Y is inside it. Their lines
|> >exactly the same crossings whith the edge. So instead of coming up with
|> >additional complicated rules just make sure you don't hit the corners. 
|> 
|> Well, one solution to this problem is this: consider each vertice of the
|> polygon as belonging to only _one_ of the line segments it is connected to.
|> So in the above example,  only consider point C to be on the line segment
|> BC and not on AC.  Then if the line you're drawing goes through point C,
|> it is only considered to have gone through line segment BC and not AC.
|> This simple fix should clear up any problems.

No, it doesn't. I didn't say that the line drawn from point X has one or two
crossings. My point is that X-line and Y-line have the same number of crossings
(be it 1 or 2) while X is outside and Y is inside. The fix you suggest doesn't
distinguish X- and Y- cases in my example.
The rule that would work is to check if AC and CB segments are on the same 
side of the line (2 or 0 crossings, case X) or on the different sides 
(1 crossing, case Y). But I think it is much better to just avoid these
confusing cases. It can be even more complex if a direction you select for
the line makes it co-linear with one of the segments. Something like this:

             B                 C
      X ._______________________________________________________
            /                  \
           /                    \
          /                      \
         /________________________\
        A                          D

|> 
|> Mark Schnitzius
|> schnitzi@eola.cs.ucf.edu
|> University of Central Florida
---
Alex Berlin                     
berlin@is.morgan.com
From: smoore@dartmouth.edu (Sean Moore)
Newsgroups: comp.programming
Subject: Re: Why Are Red-Black Trees Obscure?
Date: 27 Aug 92 12:03:13 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

In article <1992Aug26.183817.7371@reed.edu> orpheus@reed.edu (P. Hawthorne) writes:

>   Sedgewick, for the chapter on balanced trees in his book "Algorithms," uses
>   the red-black tree. As a data structure, the red-black tree seems simple
>   and well balanced. He convincingly suggests that they are better than AVL
>   trees and yet, I've never seen them mentioned by anyone else. Why not?

>   Theus (orpheus@reed.edu)

Red-Black trees are discussed extensively in "Algorithms", by Cormen,
Lieserson, and Rivest.

- Sean Moore
  Computer Science
  Dartmouth College
Newsgroups: comp.programming
From: markh@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Mark)
Subject: Re: Teaching the basics
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 17:58:24 GMT

In article <BtJyAM.MGv@cs.psu.edu> schwartz@roke.cs.psu.edu (Scott Schwartz) writes:
>markh@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Mark) writes:
>   Wrong.  In fact, the non-recursive version (tree search) is far smaller and
>   simpler.  No stacks either.
>
>Actually, the search algorithm is tail recursive, so you can code it
>in the straightforward (recursive) way and let the compiler generate
>the iterative code.  Gcc and Sun's CC do this.

Non recursive tree traversal was also illustrated in the article you quoted,
with all 6 modes combined in one short routine.  No compiler will generate
anything close to that, much less try to combine all 6 ways into one.
From: joseph@aludra.usc.edu (Jeff Lawson)
Newsgroups: comp.programming
Subject: Spell checking routine
Date: 31 Aug 1992 21:16:31 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu


I need a routine that will suggest words for a mispelled word from a
large dictionary.  I'd like something that could produce words with
totally different spellings, like WordPerfect's.  It doesn't really
matter what code it's written in, but C is preferable.  Thanks


					Jeff Lawson
					joseph@aludra.usc.edu

Newsgroups: comp.programming
From: schnitzi@cs.ucf.edu (Mark Schnitzius)
Subject: Re: How to decide if a point is inside a polygon?
Organization: University of Central Florida
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 16:02:54 GMT

berlin@is.morgan.com (Alexander Berlin) writes:

>In article <schnitzi.714934670@eola.cs.ucf.edu>, schnitzi@cs.ucf.edu (Mark Schnitzius) writes:
>|> mps@sparc68.hri.com (Mark Stockley) writes:
>|> 
>|> >I am in need of an algorithm to compute whether or not a given
>|> >point exists within or without a polygon. Any help or pointers to
>|> >where to look would be much appreciated.
>|> 
>|> If I remember right the trick is to extend a line from the point
>|> infinitely in any direction (say, up).  Count how many of the
>|> polygon's edges this line passes through.  If it passes through
>|> an even number of polygon edges (including zero) the point is
>|> outside of the polygon.  An odd number indicates the point is
>|> inside the polygon.

>Correct, but a word of caution should be said.
>When drawind the line in any direction, you want to avoid
>crossing corners of the polygon. So, make sure no one of the given points
>(that make polygon) belongs to the line.

>        A           B
>        .___________.
>         \         /
>          \  Y.   /
>           \  |  /
>    X       \ | /
>    .________\|/___________________
>              |
>              | C
>              |

>In the above example X is outside triangle ABC, Y is inside it. Their lines
>exactly the same crossings whith the edge. So instead of coming up with
>additional complicated rules just make sure you don't hit the corners. 

Well, one solution to this problem is this: consider each vertice of the
polygon as belonging to only _one_ of the line segments it is connected to.
So in the above example,  only consider point C to be on the line segment
BC and not on AC.  Then if the line you're drawing goes through point C,
it is only considered to have gone through line segment BC and not AC.
This simple fix should clear up any problems.

Mark Schnitzius
schnitzi@eola.cs.ucf.edu
University of Central Florida
Newsgroups: comp.programming
From: holly@wowbagger.pc-labor.uni-bremen.de (Holger Duerer)
Subject: Re: Balanced Trees (Re: Why Are Red-Black Trees Obscure?)
Organization: PC-Labor der Universitaet Bremen
	<PSU.92Aug27104235@ptero.cs.duke.edu> <1992Aug27.215924.24525@reed.edu>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 17:10:58 GMT

>>>>> On 27 Aug 92 21:59:24 GMT, orpheus@reed.edu (P. Hawthorne) said:


>>   psu@cs.duke.edu (Peter Su) laments:
>> : All of the following are easier than AVL trees: splay trees, red-black
>> : trees, skip-lists, randomized binary trees, etc. Why do people insist on
>> : teaching AVL trees?

>>  (If I reveal some of my profound ignorance here, be gentle with me, huh?
>> I've never had the pleasure of discussing data structures with others
>> before, and some of my isolation may show through.)

>>   Maybe it's because AVL trees are always watching out for and correcting
>> imbalance. The structures you mention are probabilistic solutions, not hard
>> and fast guarantees. If you are particularly neurotic about computational
>> cost and the cost of key compares outweighs the cost of path bookkeeping
>> and tree rotations, I could see using AVL trees rather than the many "sure
>> thing" alternatives. Plus, they're exotic Cold War souvenirs!

I myself am not very knowledgable about this stuff but red-black trees
DO give guarantees.  They are just not as strict as for AVL trees.  So
red-black trees are at most twice as bad as AVL.  You are right that
this may be of importance in some case.  However these should be far
to rare to warrant the attention given to AVLs.

>>   I'll agree though, there isn't enough material available on those
>> structures for the many circumstances in which they are the better
>> alternatives. Ever tried to find an introduction to Fibonacci heaps or
>> source for them that isn't in a mishmash of C++ and German?

I believe there is a chapter about Fib heaps in Cormen, Rivest,
Leiserson: "Algorthms".  I haven't read that chapter but liked all the
ones I DID read.  It's a nice book.

>> [stuff deleted]

>>   Theus (orpheus@reed.edu)

	Holger
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Holger D"urer                           <holly@pc-labor.uni-bremen.de>
 "Infinity is a notion best contemplated within four 
  walls with sheets tucked snugly around one's feet" -- Oliver Wendell Jones
Newsgroups: comp.programming
From: berlin@is.morgan.com (Alexander Berlin)
Subject: Re: Deciding point-in-polygon: A new idea
Organization: Morgan Stanley - IS
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 19:33:24 GMT

In article <schnitzi.715279970@eola.cs.ucf.edu>, schnitzi@cs.ucf.edu (Mark Schnitzius) writes:
|> Confession:  I knew it wouldn't work when I posted it, but I wanted to
|> see if anyone could come up with a way to make it work.  Since then, I
|> came to the realization that this idea WILL work if you add the stipulation
|> that the point must be added in such a way that it will not make any new
|> line crossings, and I believe it is always possible to do so.  Like you
|> said, the only change in sum will depend on (x1,y1), (x2,y2), and (x,y),
|> so after you find the place to add the point (which is where the complex-
|> ity comes in), you only need to check to see if
|> 
|>   (x1*y2-x2*y1) > (x1*y-x*y1)+(x*y2-x2*y)
|> 
|> If this inequality is true, the point is inside the polygon.

Wrong again. There are some cases when it is impossible to avoid new 
line crossings. Example? Here goes:

    A ______ D
      \    /
       \  /
        \/ * X
        /\
       /  \
      /    \
   C /------\ B

And this is not the worst case at all.

|> 
|> Mark Schnitzius
|> schnitzi@eola.cs.ucf.edu
|> Univ. of Central Florida
---
Alex Berlin                     
berlin@is.morgan.com
Newsgroups: comp.programming