4/12/2000
Viruses
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. It was the Michaelangelo virus
that first got me back in 1992. All data was destroyed. It required 2 hours of expensive
technician time to even make the hard drive useable again.
But running anti virus protection caused a new problem. I learned that it was not only
difficult, but next to impossible to install new software with the anti-virus software
running. Removing the "protection" was an extreme pain in the neck.
Eight years later, I got burned again. Fortunately the hard drive was not destroyed, but
loosing my day planner one day before being scheduled on 3 talk shows was a considerable
inconvenience. So I just have to remind everyone, viruses are very real. Technology
changes things as we go along. So here is an updated checklist to review what are now the
basics.
1. Always have a 3.5" boot disk handy.
2. The FIRST accessory you should add to any computer now is a CD recorder. 650 megabytes
on a $1.00 recordable CD is the most cost effective method of exterior data storage. And
it is easy to reinstall from your CD-ROM.
3. Discipline yourself to make periodic backups of data. The frequency is up to you, but
be honest, how many days, weeks, or months of data can you afford to lose?
4. If you use a type of day-planner, keep hard copies of all phone numbers. Print out
especially busy and important days. Viruses follow Murphy's law religiously. You probably
won't have time to do any reinstalls immediately after a virus hits. Have a "print
out parachute" so you at least know where you're supposed to be until you can find a
few
hours to reconstruct your system.
5. Don't put 100% faith in your virus protection software. High schools are teaching kids
C++ and Java programming. These are HIGH LEVEL, HIGH POWERED languages. Just like a
nuclear bomb in the wrong hands, they can really mess things up. Thousands of new viruses
are showing up every year. I'm sure way too many come from adolescents with nothing better
to do than try to make the evening news with their home made electronic terror. I don't
cherish the idea of having to download virus protection updates weekly, but I'm sorry to
say this may become a necessity.
6. Stop the habit immediately of forwarding e-mails, or sending any attached files to
friends. If a chart or picture must be exchanged, post them on your own web site and send
the URL address as text in your e-mail to your friends. Web space is free. Don't use cost
as an excuse.
Don't believe the old superstition that viruses only come from shady web sites. My copy of
Michaelangelo came packaged in a new disk of $500 software from a major software firm. My
last virus, PrettyPark.exe came attached to an e-mail from my cousin…my cousin the
software programmer running the latest virus protection on his machine. Human error can
accidentally sabotage the best of software. PrettyPark.exe initiates 25 e-mails every 10
to 30 minutes, signing YOUR name, documenting nothing on your machine, and goes to all
your friends on your address list. In my case, the friends in my day planner. These are
friends and business associates who trust you. When they see an attached file from YOU,
they know you would never send anything bad. And I think we all know what the acronym
ASSuME means. Opening an attached .exe file defeats the virus protection.
LateNiteLeroy
Webmaster at http://www.commutefaster.com
Contact directly at leroy@commutefaster.com
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