Re: Viruses?

To: CALC-TI@LISTS.PPP.TI.COM
Subject: Re: Viruses?
From: Rene Kragh Pedersen <relic@DAIMI.AAU.DK>
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 1998 00:37:09 +0200
Organization: DAIMI - Department of Computer Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
References: <OUT-3603BDF8.MD-1.0.dave@lusk.demon.co.uk>
Reply-To: relic@DAIMI.AAU.DK

Dave Lusk wrote:
>
> Pending the arrival of my new TI-89 from America I have been following
> the various TI newsgroups. Since it is possible to download and use
> various programs written by others on a number of the TI series of
> calculators, what is the chance of a virus being present in the
> program? Is there any steps taken by the TIOrg site to check for this
> or is there a method for checking these files yourself?
[...]

Well, in effect, the most a program can do is delete all you have. No
programs can mess up your calculator, provided you don't hack it and
start assembly programming it. In that case I have no idea but I would
_think_ it impossible to do any harm.

The programs you have do not have much interface with the OS, so subtle
vira like the ones that change a file here and there are rather
difficult to incorporate into a program.
As to the risk of getting a program that does something nasty to your
calc, well, a lot of people use the TI databases so the chance of you
picking it up is relatively small considering that an offending program
would be removed rather fast.

Conclusion:
I would not be afraid of anything happening to my calc, and as to losing
files, well, if you have a the means to download programs then you
should be able to make a backup of your memory as well!

HTH. HAND.

--
          Rene Kragh Pedersen
------------------------------------------------------------------
Alea jacta est.
 - It's human to err.

References:

Viruses?

From: Dave Lusk <dave@LUSK.DEMON.CO.UK>