HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rcmerrit@apgea.army.mil (Robert C. Merritt <rcmerrit>)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Re: A Frank Discussion on Piracy (Flames, Anyone? :-P )
Date: 22 Dec 92 20:42:02 GMT
Organization: APG-Edgewood

In article <BzFoB7.L5y@news.cso.uiuc.edu> dlanglan@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (super-dave) writes:
>Richard_Robb@mindlink.bc.ca (Richard Robb) writes:
>
>>Yes, we've all been screwed so often by the computer hardware/software
>>industries that we justifiably feel some satisfaction if we can recoup our
>>losses by sharing software that has been legally purchased.
>
>>But: aren't you worried that the virii are usually spread by piratii?
>
>Richard,
>
>You raise a good point about being taken advantage of by software/hardware
>companies.  However, your second point is a popular myth that needs to be
>refuted.  Yes, the pirating underworld does (every so often) suffer from a
>virus infected program, but the penalties in the pirate community are
>severe for those distributing it.  Case in point:  Pete Pirate uploads DOS
>6.0 Beta to a Pirate BBS, but just before he u/l's it he infects it with
>the whale virus.  Assuming he can encrypt the virus (unfortunately quite
>easy) the program is now infected.  Bob Buccanner sits at home and says,
>Wow! Dos 6.0 - and he d/l's it.  When Bob's computer crashes, he posts a
>note to the sysop at the pirate BBS.  The sysop summarily kicks Pete off
>his system.  Pirate Sysops are often well connected, and Pete finds
>himself unable to connect to any BBS in his area.  With the fact that good
>virus detection software available everywhere, and the fact that no Pirate
>has all that many Pirating friends to throw away, Pirated programs are
>generally safe.  Hey, if you play the game you take the risk :-).  I don't
>need to tell you that people upload infected shareware too!
>
>Feel free to respond,
>
>Dave
>

>||                                                                      ||
>|| dlanglan@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu - University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign  ||
>||                                                                      ||

> 



ok, I run a BBS. And I've had infect software uploaded to my BBS. (mostly
from window software. Unicom was uploaded 3 different times, and each
copy was infected by 3 different virus! go figure)
My point? I've never bumbed anyone off my board for uploading a infected
program. (I knew these people which helped a great deal in the trust department
=) But I feel it is my DUTY as a sysop to scan for virus ourselves! 
There are so many thingsa going around, its hard for an accident not to happen.

I run a free/shareware board only, and I enjoy the friendly enviroment that
I've created on my BBS. Now, it might be different for pirate boards, I 
wouldn't know. I guess criminals have lower standards.
Rob Merritt.
My opinions, and reality are purely my own.
From: whare@ac.dal.ca
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Damage To Monitor Due To WHAT??? (OAK) HELP!
Date: 30 Dec 92 16:42:28 -0400
Organization: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

I NEED HELP!

Is anyone familiar with the OAK OTI-077 chip found
on OAK video cards? Are they ONLY for 486s? And if
so, will they damage monitors running on 386s?

If this is not the case, what could be the cause
of flashing on the screen, like MAJOR flickering
and a yellowing of whites? Anyone?

If you don't know the answer could you send me to
a proper newsgroup?

Thanks
From: bigal@wpi.WPI.EDU (Nathan Charles Crowell)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Help! Memory problem!
Date: 29 Dec 1992 17:58:52 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: wpi.wpi.edu


Hi,
     I just installed 4 brand new 4MBx9 SIMM's into my Gateway
2000 PC, for a total of 20MB on the motherboard.  My computer is
a 486DX/33 with a 64k cache. This may not sound like a problem so
far, but here's the rest of the story:

     I installed the chips (properly grounding myself and the PC),
set the DIP switches (I checked the manual and switch settings twice
to be sure it was done right), and when I started up the machine,
after the video card test and Phoenix BIOS message, the memory test
line said "640K Base Memory 15104K Extended".

     Shouldn't it say "640K Base Memory 19000K Extended"? Or some-
thing in that range? What I want to know is, am I missing something,
or do I have some sort of hardware problem? I did make sure the my
CMOS setup was right, and it reports the same memory configuration.

     Some insight on this would be very helpful....please reply by
e-mail.

Thanx in advance,
Nate
--------------------------
Nathan C. Crowell, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering/ACRL

Worcester Polytechnic Institute     E-mail: bigal@wpi.wpi.edu
--------------------------
From: vporguen@unlinfo.unl.edu (victor porguen)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Viruses, viruses!
Date: 31 Dec 1992 03:34:48 GMT
Organization: University of Nebraska--Lincoln	
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: unlinfo.unl.edu
Keywords: Virus Stoned

 
The Gipsy Scholar (Bruce Bathurst, bathurst@phoenix.princeton.edu),
writes:

> Last week a friend asked me to fix a floppy--an original disk from 
> a commercial program.  The boot record (and following sector) had 
> unusual code, so I suspected a boot-record virus.  Because no 
> messages were displayed on his screen, I guessed it was the Stoned 
> virus, and checked the spot it places the correct boot record.  
> There was code--out of place--but different from the correct boot 
> code and different from that in the first sector.  This was 
> Michelangelo.  The poor floppy caught one, then the other.

Fortunately, computer virus "infections" are fairly rare occurrences.
Double computer virus "infections" are even rarer.  A mad dog could 
have bitten your friend, and the dog could have been rabid, and 
there might not have been any good vaccine left in the hospital, and 
the power went down at the same time, so that the hospital couldn't 
get any fresh vaccine, and your friend may have died as a result. 

But I am not going to loose any sleep over mad dogs because of
such possibility.

The operation you suggest (re-activating the Michelangelo while 
cleaning the Stoned infection), while theoretically possible, has 
seldom caused an actual problem in the field that I am aware of. 
Do you know of any verifiable, documented case(s) which could be 
confirmed by an independent observer?  (I don't mean the double 
infection - I do believe you found one, and I've seen some myself, 
mostly experimental, but I mean that "reactivation" you suggest. )

> BTW, the little program in the boot record is run not only during 
> booting, but any time the computer needs to know what medium is in 
> the drive.  This is why disks copy-protected with an odd format 
> don't surprise your computer.  In principle, if you insert a 
> floppy with a boot-record infection and type "C:\DOS>dir a:", 
> your machine can be infected.

I believe the =code= written in the diskette's Boot Sector gets 
executed only during a booting process or attempted booting process.
At other times, i.e., when reading the disk to see what kind of disk 
it is, there is no execution of code. There's only reading of =data=, 
which the boot sector also contains. If the =data= is incorrect, the
system might assume some weird things about the disk, but no boot
sector code gets executed just from reading it for information
purposes (i.e., to determine disk size, type, etc.)

Once a virus becomes TSR on the system, all kinds of things can 
happen when you access a diskette, because accessing a disk is 
executing =code=, the system's (BIOS) code, to read the boot sector 
=data=, but NOT EXECUTING THE BOOT SECTOR CODE.  So initial 
infection from the diskette to the system does not take place the 
way you suggest.  

( Unless somebody just discovered a new way to accomplish it! <g>. )

Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: ndit@pax.eunet.ch (NDIT)
Subject: Install Disk unknown by BIOS?
Organization: EUnet Login/Mailbox Service
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 16:08:36 GMT
From: frisk@complex.is (Fridrik Skulason)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Re: Viruses, viruses!
Keywords: Virus Stoned
Date: 31 Dec 92 15:20:13 GMT
Organization: Frisk Software International, Iceland

The Gipsy Scholar (Bruce Bathurst, bathurst@phoenix.princeton.edu),
writes:

> Last week a friend asked me to fix a floppy--an original disk from 
> a commercial program.  The boot record (and following sector) had 
> unusual code, so I suspected a boot-record virus.  Because no 
> messages were displayed on his screen, I guessed it was the Stoned 
> virus, and checked the spot it places the correct boot record.  
> There was code--out of place--but different from the correct boot 
> code and different from that in the first sector.  This was 
> Michelangelo.  The poor floppy caught one, then the other.

Well, you are not the first person to have this problem - I have seen several
reports of it elsewhere.  The "Stoned" virus has been around for a long time,
and with Michelangelo slowly becoming more common, others will have it too.

The real problem starts when a hard disk gets infected by both, as the
viruses attempt to relocate the original MBR to the same location (0,0,7),
with the result that wen the second virus infects the system, the original
MBR is lost, and the machine becomes non-bootable, which is usually how
the double-infection is discovered :-)

It is not a proper double-infection, though, as the viruses are not
compatible with each other, but as I said it happens occasionally.

> don't surprise your computer.  In principle, if you insert a 
> floppy with a boot-record infection and type "C:\DOS>dir a:", 
> your machine can be infected.

Well, no ... the boot sector is read into memory, and if you run a virus
scanner it may report "Stoned was found in memory", but the machine is not
infected.

It is *possible* to become infected just by giving a DIR command, but only
by using a really weird trick when creating the diskette originally, which
I will not (for obvious reasons) describe here. 

-- 
--
Fridrik Skulason      Frisk Software International     phone: +354-1-694749
Author of F-PROT      E-mail: frisk@complex.is         fax:   +354-1-28801
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: bathurst@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Bruce Bathurst)
Subject: Re: IBM XT upgrade
Originator: news@nimaster
Keywords: XT
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1993 02:46:25 GMT

In article <50921@shamash.cdc.com> slc@a2.cim.cdc.com (Steve Chesney x4662) writes:
>At my wife's job (a church) she is obligated to use a vintage IBM XT with
>a 10 meg hard disk, color display and IBM PC-DOS 2.10.  
>Since she is used to our 386, it seems slow to her.  Are there any cheap and
>simple upgrades that we could try to alleviate this?

I use PCKWIK's disk cache, screen accelerator, and keyboard
accelerator together on my 1982 PC.  They're packaged together and sell
for a very reasonable price.

Also, I take care in organizing my file sytem.  The first-level
directories on my disk contain only subdirectories or batch files.
For example:

|-----wordproc------- wordperf
                   |
                   |- cgrammar

The batch file to run Correct Grammar might look like this:

@Echo off
Rem - Executes Correct Grammar
Cls
Echo ..Loading Correct Grammar Program
C:
Cd \WordProc\CGrammar
CG.EXE
Cd \Socrates
Cls

(Socrates is the machine's home directory.)  The advantage of the
above is that the PATH variable has few directories, and few files in
each to search.  (Place \DOS last.)

Also, I defragment my disk every other day.  DOG (a shareware program)
is most flexible.

Usually I just place the directories and batch files first on the disk,
for this is most important and fast to do.  But regularly organize the
disk as follows:--

Right after the system files, I place the directories, then the batch
files; then I place the remaining files, grouped by directory.  The
directory \WordProc\CGrammar I may place first, if it needs to access
files from disk as it runs.  Within each directory I sort the files by
filename, for (somedays) I convince myself that this best places files
that will be needed for a single task adjacent to one another on the
disk.  This helps cache them together, if the cache reads ahead.

Finally, I make sure temporary files and swap files are not fragmented
when they're written.  This means placing them away out on the disk by
themselves, if their upper size isn't predictable; or placing them
before the batch files in a region of fixed size, if their size is
pre-determined.  (I crash the program that creates the swap file, move
it where I want it when defragmenting, then--depending on the
program--use attributes or other methods to keep the swap space
intact.)

Many programs for XT's will take advantage of expanded memory, for
swapping to disk is painfully slow.  I installed an Intel AboveBoard
and placed my disk cache there.  It shrinks as applications need the
space.

Bruce (Gypsy Scholar)
-- 
Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
bathurst@phoenix.princeton.edu bathurst@pucc.bitnet !princeton!phoenix!bathurst
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: maceache@fox.nstn.ns.ca (Tim Maceachern)
Subject: Seek ptr to term program with color graphics
Summary: Seeking a pointer to a terminal program that supports color graphics
Keywords: terminal, color, colour
Organization: NSTN Network Operations Centre, Nova Scotia, Canada
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 17:46:57 GMT

I'm trying to develop graphic software using GKS on a Unix system.  Is
there a PD or SW terminal program around that supports color graphics
on my PC?

What I'm using is an SVGA card and monitor, I would be happy with
VGA 640x400x256 resolution, but 800x600x256 or 1024x768x16 would be better.

I would like the program to emulate a Tektronix color display, a VT color
display, or any reasonably common color graphic display.

Thanks for any help
*******************************************************************
*         Tim MacEachern         * Tim_MacEachern@hawk.nstn.ns.ca *
*     Software Kinetics Ltd.     *  or maceache@hawk.nstn.ns.ca   *
* Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada *                                *
*           Opinions expressed are the author's only              *
*******************************************************************
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: hart@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Rod Hart - WA3MEZ)
Subject: Help
Organization: Advanced Business Solutions, Inc.
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 16:46:29 GMT



When I change floppies on my system, I get a volume ID change yet
the directory contents remain unchanged. I can force a change by
hitting a Cntl-C. I have swapped both drives and controller cards as
well as verified the DC options are in place on both drives. The
system is configured as follows:

Acer 486dlc 33Mhz Motherboard with Math Coprocessor
8 Meg. Memory
200 Meg. Maxtor Hard Drive
3" TEAC Floppy Drive
5" TEAC Floppy Drive
Hitachi CDR-3600 CD Rom Reader
CMS 250 Tape Reader
Soundblaster board
Internal Modem
Mainlan Ethernet Card
Trident 8900C Video
MSDOS 5

I have run test without autoexec.bat and config.sys installed as
well as disabled shadow rom and caching to make sure there were no
unknown interdependencies. The system will reliably recognize the
changing of disk volumn, yet the directory contents will remain
unchanged. I have no idea of what to do next. Any help would be
appreciated.

				Rod Hart wa3mez
                                wa3mez@wa3mej         - Packet Radio
                                hart@cp1.bell-atl.com
                                hart@wb3ffv.uucp
From: oneil@cwis.unomaha.edu (Sharon O'Neil)
Subject: Re: Stac Software Customer Service (comments welcome)
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 12:56:35 GMT

lh7873@albnyvms.bitnet writes:

>I would like to take this time to invite all that have
>had experience with Stac software please post their
>opinions --> _Good or Bad._
>Maybe someone over there (Carlsbad CA) will see this and 
>maybe install some toll free 800 lines...
>With all the competition in compression, they might take 
>note of us, thier customers!

>I will start by saying this:

>	My Colleage and I had a problem installing Stacker 2.0.
>It stopped mid-installation.  When I called them in CA, I was
>put on hold for twenty minutes.  If you are familiar with this
>company you will know that when you call them you pay for the 
>call.  They don't have any 800 lines. 

Well, this is not any big crime.  I can't think of ANY software company that
has a tech support line that is free.  I mean, maybe there are some, but I
don't know of any.  But from what I understand, Stac actually does run their
tech support line during weird hours.  So if you can't reach them in the 
middle of the day, why not try late in the day when phone rates are cheaper
and you're less likely to be competing with everyone else for support.

>After talking for ten 
>minutes I was told to go out and buy a disk utilities program
>to check my hard drive.  A thirty minute call and no answers. I
>hung up frustrated, looked into a utility program, didn't buy one,

Heck, I figure you might as well have a disk utilities program anyway.  Lots
of them have virus scanners and backup utilities built right in as well as the
other disk utilities.  

>came home and
>formated my drive, reinstalled Stacker 2.0, installed all my applications,
>and all my 'backed up' files (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BEFORE INSTALLING
>STACKER), and lived happily ever after.  No problems with my HD,
>Probably could have avoided hours of reinstalling all apps, with
>some help on the phone.  

And again, anytime you screw with your hard drive you should back it up.
Hours of reinstalling all apps?  Goodness!  I have my hard drive backed up on
about 25 diskettes.  I wouldn't ever spend /hours/ reinstalling all apps. 

>There see, it's not too hard.  Please post any interaction good,
>or bad, with Stac Software. 

Of course, I haven't had any problems with Stacker 3.0 yet.

Sharon
oneil@cwis.unomaha.edu

Xref: sparky comp.os.msdos.misc:6686 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:34027
From: johnl@yang.earlham.edu (John Fiskio-Lasseter)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: *WEIRD* floppy drive error...
Date: 22 Dec 92 18:49:04 GMT
Organization: Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana

In article <1h7erhINN7d4@cs.tut.fi>, pk64380@kaarne.cs.tut.fi (Kuusisto Pasi Petri,,,SIG,64380) writes:

>> If not, the drive will crap out 
>> ("GENERAL FAILURE READING DRIVE A:", etc.), and the FAT and BOOT sectors 
>> of the disk are destroyed (interestingly, ViruSafe reports that the disks 
>> are infected with Michelangelo, although they are most certainly not).
> 
>     Umm .. didn't read this part when I wrote the last sentence ...
>     I still think it is some ... *gasp* ... VIRUS. 

Except that (1)In order for Michelangelo to spread to other disks, you 
need to boot from and infected disk, (2)Even if there were a Michelangelo 
infection, there would be some trace of the FAT and BOOT left, and (3)I 
tried booting from a known clean floppy with the hard drive physically 
disconnected from the machine.  The only possible way there could be a 
viral infection is if it were living in the CMOS, which Michelangelo does 
not do.  Besides, I also switched out the BIOS which would have eliminated 
that possibility anyway.

-- John

p.s. Sorry about the post to comp.os.msdos.misc.  I wasn't watching where 
I was.  Followups should be in c.s.i.p.h. now.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
|John Howard Eli Fiskio-Lasseter  |     "Is obair-la\ to\iseachadh"   |
|e-mail: johnl@yang.earlham.edu   |    ("Beginning is a day's work")  |
|        JOHNL@EARLHAM.BITNET     |                --Gaidhlig Proverb |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Xref: sparky comp.os.msdos.misc:6797 comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:16258
From: Espo@cup.portal.com (STEVEN MICHAEL ESPOSITO)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: Question about Gateway modem vs Boca Modem
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 92 16:48:38 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

Along the same lines I am looking for a good 14.4 fax modem but
I want to get and external version. Any recommendations between
brands. Most of the ones I have seen go for about $300.00

thanks

espo@cup.portal.com
From: pechter@ocpt.ccur.com (Bill Pechter)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Re: Telix Terminal emulators
Date: 24 Dec 92 19:26:18 GMT
Organization: Concurrent Computer Corp.,Information Services
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

James P. Callison (callison@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu) wrote:
: In article <Bz6pu7.CFB@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu> callison@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (James P. Callison) writes:
: >Are there any decent terminal emulators for use in Telix? I'm using
: >Telix 3.15, and I'd like to register it, but if it doesn't have any
: >decent terminal emulation available, there's not much point. 
: 
: It seems that I may not have been clear enough--I currently use
: Telix 3.15 with its built in VT102 emulation on a UMAX (BSD UNIX)
: system and a VMS 5.2 (or is it 3 now? It's the most recent release)
: system. 

I'm running 3.2 of Telix (yup it's now available - I was a beta site).
I've had no emulation problems to ANY UNIX version.  I lost my 
access to VAX/VMS when I left DEC and TRW so I can't test against them.

I had no emulation problems with 3.12->3.15.  Make sure you have destructive
backspace off.

Telix doesn't pass the VTTEST test completely, it fails in the same place
as MS-Kermit.

The only thing I've seen that does it completely (I haven't seen most
commercial VT emulators) is Softterm.  Softterm however has the worst
user interface and file transfers.

There's a new Telix and Telix for Windows underway.   The latest message
I've seen says it'll be out next year.

Bill

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Bill Pechter, N2RDI           | The postman always pings twice.
        Concurrent Computer Corp.     | pechter@ocpt.ccur.com
        2 Crescent Place, Oceanport, NJ 07757 - Tel:908-870-4780 
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc