>Danny, before you dismiss class and we return to pediatric issues, can we >take advantage of your computer knowledge a little more. How good a job do >you think the standard anti-virus programs do at identifying infected >attachments before they are run? Great job, on KNOWN viruses. > IOW, if we receive one of those "cute >little programs" and scan the program for viruses (with "scan compressed >files" enabled and updated virus definitions), would you still recommend >trashing the attachment if it comes up negative? ABSOLUTELY!!! If you don't know what it is you're running, who wrote it, etc., DON'T RUN IT. That is the safest way to go. Ask the sender if their system is okay, a few weeks after they ran it themselves :) > What are the odds of the >anti-virus software missing a virus under these circumstances? Great, see above. > And if it >misses a virus while the attachment is still a compressed .exe file, >should the anti-virus software then be able to identify it (and give us an >opportunity to delete it before damage is done) once the program begins to >run. I recognize that computer virus hackers and anti-virus programmers >are in a continuous game of cat-and-mouse (and there are times when the >hackers are a step ahead), but what are your general feelings about the >effectiveness of anti-virus software? Thanks for any thoughts. What happens when some RENAMES the HAPPY99.EXE to GEORGE.EXE, then runs PKZIP on it and makes it into GEORGE.ZIP, then runs ZIP2EXE making GEORGE1.EXE. Now you run GEORGE1 which is a legit file. This creates GEORGE.EXE which is really HAPPY99 - and your A/V program is not currently running because you already scanned GEORGE1.EXE and it was fine. Now you are infected. If your A/V program is running when you *created* the GEORGE.EXE, hopefully it will recognize it as HAPPY99 in disguise and warn you. Want to take that chance? Personally, computers are my business, I enjoy some of the email lists, I use the net as a great resource - and I do my computer itself. I just don't find the need to be entertained by my computer (ba, hum-bug). Danny *************************** Daniel Frieling mailto: Pediatric Software Intl., Inc. http://www.compukid.com CompuKID, The Pediatric Toolkit Computer software for primary care pediatrics (800) WELL-CHILD (800-935-5244) Outside the USA: (973) 726-4444 ***************************