Patent ID: 8312449

Claim:
A method of viral installation of operating systems in a network, the method comprising: a target computer receiving an operating system image having viral installation code instructions to form a received operating system image, wherein the operating system image is received from a master computer over a network connection; the target computer actuating a software switch indicating update status; the target computer determining a first associated group of computers, wherein each computer in the first associated group of computers lacks the received operating system image; the target computer installing the received operating system image on the first associated group of computers after the target computer determines the first associated group of computers; responsive to the target computer installing the received operating system image on the first associated group of computers, the target computer determining that no additional computers can be reached that lack an operating system image; and responsive to the target computer determining that no additional computers can be reached that lack an operating system image, the target computer deleting the viral installation code instructions from the target computer.