I doubt very seriously that this is anything more than a troll. First off, the algorythms used to find polymorphics are sophisticated enough to detect newly published viruses. Secondly, DOS/Windows et al. are not much more than boot sector viruses themselves. :-) Their structure is well know and there isn't any back door available to bang the OS from that hasn't already been exploited. Real OS's like Unix, OS/2 etc. are also know quantities. Binary launches are the way they do it, and the way a virus spreads, unless you get caught up with autoexecuting Word and Excel macros. I have yet to see *any* truly data propogating viruses. None the less, it is always a good idea to keep a scanner handy for thoses files that wander in off the Net. You never really know what they've been doing and who they've been doing it with. :-) ...Paul ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everybody gets busy on the proof" -- John Kenneth Galbraith "Success is attending a funeral as a spectator" -- E. BonAnno ------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Sat, 31 Aug 1996, kickboxer wrote:
There is a new and VERY dangerous virus called the HAZ-MAT virus! it fucks up the sectors on your hd, and really messes up the partition tables. It does this once a week, picking a random time to do it. 99.9% of virus scanners and other antivirus programs will not recognize it, for it is a totally new strain, using a never before seen code.... Be warned! The HAZ-MAT virus usually resides in JPG, and GIF files... once the files are viewed, the virus takes effect. scan all images upon download!