Section 6: Viruses ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q6.1) How can I protect against viruses? Pineapple Software have produced a program called !Killer, which is the definitive means of checking for or killing viruses. There are a few other commercial solutions, see the next question for details on how to obtain them. There are also a few PD programs around, but these tend to detect only a small subset of the viruses in circulation. !VKiller used to be OK, but it is no longer maintained, is now seriously out of date and fails to work under RISC OS 3. Out of the PD virus utilities the current best is Kiwisoft's !Slayer. This detects most known viruses and removes quite a few as well and serves as a good secondary defence if Killer is unavailable to you. Scanner should be available on various FTP/Email servers. I have also produced my own virus killer called !VZap. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q6.2) Where can I obtain a virus killer? Various virus killers are out there. Here is a, probably incomplete, list of those available. Killer ------ Killer is distributed by Pineapple Software. Who can be reached at: Pineapple Software, 352 Green Lane, Ilford, Essex IG3 9JS England. Tel. +44 (208) 599 1476 Fax +44 (208) 598 2343 via email:sa...@pineaple.demon.co.uk supp...@pineaple.demon.co.uk or v...@pinesoft.demon.co.uk Or if you need a German version of the program you can contact Uffenkamp Computer Systeme at: Gartenstr. 3, D-32130 Enger. Tel. +49 (5224) 978075 Fax +49 (5224) 978076 via email: ucsor...@ucs.de or usupp...@ucs.de Early versions (up to 1.26) are PD, but should not be used now as they are ineffective against the new crop of viruses that have subsequently appeared since it's release. Slayer ------ Slayer is a freeware virus killer available from Kiwisoft. It can be downloaded from http://www.kiwisoft.co.uk/software/slayer/ It has the advantages over !Killer in that it is free, and also it is very fast. VZap ---- This is a shareware product released by Paul Vigay. It can be downloaded from Paul's www site at http://www.vigay.com/software/ and is updated as and when new viruses are discovered. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q6.3) I have received some information about a virus from a reputable source, it apparently affects Windows, Mac and/or Linux systems, is it perhaps dangerous for RISC OS users too? No known virus designed for Windows, Macintosh, Linux or Unix systems has ever infected a RISC OS system. Whilst many Acorn computers are capable of running DOS or Windows operating systems via software or hardware emulation, it is only the DOS/Windows environment that is vulnerable to infection by these virusues. Unless you have detailed evidence indicating that the virus in question has actually infected RISC OS systems, issues concerning viruses for foreign systems are best dealt with via your Windows, Macintosh, Linux or Unix anti-virus software supplier. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------