[WEB4LIB] two questions on viruses

[Thomas Edelblute]

We both of our self-check machines infected by a computer virus simply by the fact they are attached to the network.  Some of the new bread of viruses out there will go out and look for other machines on the network once they get into the system.

Thomas Edelblute
Public Access Systems Coordinator
Anaheim Public Library
500 West Broadway     phone (714) 765-1759
Anaheim CA 92805      fax (714) 765-1730


-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of John Fitzgibbon
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2005 3:19 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] two questions on viruses


Hi,

Some of our PCs make the library catalogue available (a web site) and
only the library catalogue available to the public. It is not possible
to access any other web site or run any Office program on these PCs. Can
these PCs become infected by a virus or worm? There is no anti-virus
software running on them.

Secondly, I read that a virus attaches itself either to the beginning or
end of a program and launches itself when that program is run. As an
experiment, I took two programs, Notepad.exe and NoteTab.exe: I copied
them into one file using a DOS command. The result is a much smaller
file than the sum of its parts which does not launch the two programs in
quick succession, as I expected. Any ideas on why this might be so?

Regards
John

John Fitzgibbon

Galway Public Library
Island House
Cathedral Square
Galway
Ireland

p: 00 353 91 562471
f: 00 353 91 565039
w: http://www.galwaylibrary.ie 

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