29 Dec
1998
29 Dec
'98
1:30 p.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
It's not unheard-of for computer shops to
re-shrink-wrap software that's
been returned by a customer. And if that customer's PC has a virus....
Well, when I last was involved in such activities to _demonstrate_ the
software, we re-shrank packages regularly -- otherwise our support
people [well, me] couldn't learn the software enough to solve the
problems the customers _would_ have. Farzino, no customer ever
returned software except with hardware (we were not selling toys),
and not much hardware was returned.
PC viruses were yet in the future ('88,'89 they were just appearing
rumored in the Mac and Amiga universes), the biggest media problem
around was software with installation counters.
So it is worth virus-checking installation _floppy_
disks, just in case.
But I don't see how a CD-ROM could be infected. I've never receieved a
commercial software product of a CD-R, either, and would be _very_
suspicious if I did.
If the CD-ROM is mastered by an infected PC, as I recall happened
about 4-5 years back and I forget the products, as I wasn't using
them, the thing to get suspicious of is PC architecture.
--
Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram@cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
WARNING: The Attorney General has determined that Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms can be hazardous to your health -- and get away with it.