Trend ChipAwayVIrus(R) On Guard Ver 1.63A
reads the screen as the BIOS does the Power-On Self-Test
then we see after a while
LILO Boot:
and type in dos or just wait
When it says
Loading (either linux or dos)
There is a CHIRP
And a RED screen with bright YELLOW Text Appears
"Trend ChipAwayVirus has detected a boot virus on your hard disk!
Press <Enter> for more information (recommended)
<C> to continue booting
Then a little motto and a web site
And a little face running along a line of dots which does a
purple-background white TCAV On-Guard!! over itself when it reaches the
end of each line.
If you hit <Enter> you get the screen
"To prevent data lost from your computer,
Trend ChipAwayVirus will restart your system
Insert a bootable clean floppy disk into your floppy driver
press <R> to restart your system
<B> to go back previous screen
For more information on viruses, visit ....(more FOO)
(and the little face is there, too)
Now if you Press <C> to continue you get this screen...
"If you continue to boot up your system, the virus will be left in your
computer.
Are you sure you want to continue the boot up procedure?
Press <Y> to continue to boot up anyway.
<N> to return to the previous screen.
For more information on viruses, visit www.antivirus.com"
(and we have the little face)
Folks, this board is going into lots of Super-7 computers. It is a
Micro-ATX with video and sound. I know one question on the newbie list
was directed at it because I remember going nuts looking for a Trident
8400 AGP trying to answer the question (It is actually a CyberBlade
17(generic) for XFree86).
And it has antivirus software on it, not removable, that will scare
newbies to hell because it sees LILO as a virus!!!!
I already see attacks in the way MS is positioning its servers for cable
modems and the pump/dhcp difficulties people are having, but this one is
far more blatant.
You could expect Trend to be on the Microsoft side because if no one
used MS, Trend would have no business. I mean, who would buy an
anti-virus program for linux? If you know anyone, send him my way,
cause I have a great deal for him on a Bridge near Brooklyn<g>.
My reaction, since Trend doesn't have a consumer complaints dept, was to
write FIC Sales and sever my relationship. I will no longer offer
computers with FIC boards until they change their policy. I'll also
copy this to Slashdot and see if a few folks feel interested in
slashdotting www.antivirus.com, or FIC.
Anyone else think of any responses? The copyright holder to LILO,
perhaps, should find an attorney on a no-win, no fee basis and join the
throng suing Microsoft, once the proof of the link is discovered.
I suppose you could argue that LILO is a Windows exploit, since booting
into linux on the same system exposes all the MS files to arbitrary
treatment by a file manager, but it is NOT correct to assume that all
these computers will be using Windows.
Civileme
