From:	"Packard" <packard AT blueriver DOT net>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: Quake.exe: not COFF
Date:	Wed, 26 Nov 1997 20:15:17 -0500
Organization:	JagUndi
Lines:	36
Message-ID:	<65ihga$885$1@dagobah.blueriver.net>
References:	<199711260437 DOT XAA11974 AT delorie DOT com> <347c20d4 DOT 422806573 AT news-direct>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	pm3-1-24.blueriver.net
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

Look, it was an educated guess okay?  I mean, IE4 will turn a directory
name, (a certain type of server, and if the path on that server is more than
255 characters.) into a virus on the fly.  They've got a bug fix for it!
So, if text could, why not binary fragments?

Packard

Ed Avis wrote in message <347c20d4 DOT 422806573 AT news-direct>...
>On Wed, 26 Nov 1997 04:42:47 GMT, "sl" <SL AT usemail DOT com> wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 25 Nov 1997 20:26:50 -0500, Packard wrote:
>>
>>>Indeed, turning off a Win95 machine, without shutting down completely can
>>>leave file fragments (run scandisk through DOS mode) and they may/may not
>>>turn into viruses.
>>
>> Win95 does it again.. Look, file fragements simply CANNOT spontaneously
turn into viruses.. Where
>>do you people come up with all this?
>
>You never know... it might happen...
>
>Suppose the fragment was part of the file writing code and due to disk
>corruption it got attached to the start of another executable. There
>is a miniscule chance that the fragment of machine code would work and
>copy itself to the start of another file; and over millions of years
>of PC usage, it might evolve into a highly intelligent lifeform. 8->
>
>It is thought that biological viruses started this way, as "fragments"
>of DNA which got lost and by fluke had the ability to reproduce
>themselves.
>
>--
>Ed Avis

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