Java Virus

[Earl Young]

     I would go back to your tech support people and ask (a) which virus, 
     (b) how did it happen, and (c) otherwise insist that they show you a 
     chain of events that led to the situation you describe.
     
     The people at Symantec (I don't have their URL handy - they make 
     Norton Utilities software) have a virus information center online that 
     can help you answer questions like this.  I would bet the McAfee 
     offers a similar service.
     
     It may have been a virus, but you may also have run into a befuddled 
     tech support person trying to close a call a too quickly.  Ask them 
     for the documentation that led to their conclusion.
     
     Earl Young


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Java Virus
Author:  tormond at localnet.com at INTERNET
Date:    2/7/97 8:53 PM


Hello web4libbers,
     
I've been scanning all the virus messages to find any mention of the 
java virus. I get the sense that most people want to put an end to this 
topic so I apologize for keeping it alive. 
     
I work in a small consulting firm library and one of our consultants 
recently lost all of his data on his laptop except for some html files. 
Tech Support said that it was due to a Java virus but gave no other 
information about it. I did a little research and found information 
about this virus dated May 1996 involving Java applets and Netscape 
version 2.0. From all reports I could come up with Netscape seems to 
have fixed the problem and found no link to Netscape 3.0 (what we use). 
According to the consultant, he came in one morning, turned on his 
laptop and couldn't boot. He wasn't in Netscape or any other program.
     
There is some skeptism on the part of the consultant (myself included) 
that this Java virus was the problem. We run Win95 on PCs and laptops 
with Netscape 3.0. Since he lost most of his data and since I am in 
charge of Internet training and configuration I am anxious to get a more 
varied perspective. 
     
Thanks in advance.
Tracey Ormond
CSC Weston Group
Business Research Group
tormond at csc.com