On 15 Nov 2001 at 6:54, Samuel W. Heywood wrote: >On Wed, 14 Nov 2001 09:09:40 -0600 Robert Wittig ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Subject: Re: Viruses attacking DOS systems? >>> I was wondering whether anyone has ever received an email >>> attachment that contained a virus/worm that has damaged a DOS >>> based system? All these viruses/worms seem to be targeting Win >>> platforms? > >> Sure. In fact, most modern virii do their damage in DOS, and only >> use Windows programs (like Outlook) as an entry point, and a >> distribution point (like Outlook) for spreading themselves to >> other computers. If you execute a virus with a payload of >> formatting your HD on a DOS computer, it will format your HD, but >> another virus that wants to mess with your Windows registry >> (which will also execute) won't be able to do anything, because >> DOS does not have a registry. > >I know several people from various DOS users' mailing lists who have >said that they have deliberately attempted to run some Windows virrii >received as email attachments on their DOS machines. They all report >that they get as a result only an error message saying "This program >cannot run in DOS mode". No damage and no problem. If you examine >a Windows email virus in a hex editor you will often find the error >message encoded into the file.
Yeah, that message is one included by various 32-bit compilers, to prevent 32-bit programs from running in DOS. Standard message, linked in at compile time as part of building a 32-bit .EXE. Anthony J. Albert-- =========================================================== Anthony J. Albert [EMAIL PROTECTED] Systems and Software Support Specialist Postmaster Computer Services - University of Maine, Presque Isle "Civilization is just a slow process of learning to be kind." - Charles L. Lucas To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. More info can be found at; http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
