Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 20:04:10 +0200 From: Hans-Bernhard Broeker Message-Id: <199808041804.UAA07221@acp3bf.physik.rwth-aachen.de> To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com Subject: DJGPP vs. Viruses (was Re: Not COFF...) Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Organization: RWTH Aachen, III. physikalisches Institut B Precedence: bulk Hello everyone From article : > I get the error message 'Not COFF: check for viruses' every time I try to > execute a djgpp program. I'm sure it has nothing to do with viruses!! > After recompiling and remaking the program it works fine, for a while - that > is until I restart the computer. [...] Well, just so you know: I exchanged some emails with the author of this problem, and, as I had expected, it *was* a virus. A moderately old one, actually, known since January this year. He claimed that none of his virus scanners had found it. Make up your own minds what that says about using a virus scanner (or its database) that's older than, say, 4 weeks... The 'restart the computer, and it stops working' business was due to the fact that the virus he had was a Win9x one, which does infect DOS .exe files, but goes memory-resident via Winblows. This is the second time now I've had to diagnose a virus after someone had claimed to be certain his computer was clean, but they still got the 'Not COFF: check for viruses' message from DJGPP programs. The first time, it actually was a brand-new virus. So new indeed that the author could still be hunted down and held responsible for his deeds. This means DJGPP leads by 2:0 now, at the very minimum: two hits, and no false alarms I ever heard of. So, closing this, let me advise all of you to take this kind of message from DJGPP programs _very_ seriously, _every_ time. 'Thou hast been warned' -- Hans-Bernhard Broeker (broeker AT physik DOT rwth-aachen DOT de) Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.