Re: Virus-IBMs crashing all around me...

[David Schmidt <anonymous@fight.spam>]

buggie@musca.unm.edu (stephen e buggie) wrote:
>
>
[snip]
>We Apple II users enjoy virus-free computing.   I've gotten software from 
>all imaginable sources (flea markets, yard sales, the net, etc.) and have 
>never yet seen a virus.
>

At least as far back as 1985, I knew of several DOS 3.3 viruses for the Apple
][
(writing one for ProDOS would be little or no more difficult.

In fact, because the OS changed so little throughout the life of the Apple ][,
writing viruses which infect DOS itself was not only possible but commonplace.
Such viruses could then infect an uninfected boot disk the first time they were
accessed using DOS booted from an infected disk.

Granted, most Apple viruses I know of are harmless replicators (do no damage to
your data/programs), but that's just because the Apple ][ (unfortunately) never
got enough of a market to attract the kind of psychos that write that junk....

David S.