Computer Info – September 15, 1999

(Hurricane Floyd Issue)

There is no meeting of the computer group this week due to Hurricane Floyd. But I thought I would do this small handout anyway. Hopefully Barbara Stone will be able to give the demonstrations of the GuitarCoach program and the Life Application Bible next week.

Virus – Win32/Kriz

        The virus has a dangerous payload that is activated on December 25th. When infecting any file the virus kills CMOS memory, overwrites data in all files on all available hard drives and then tries to destroy Flash BIOS by using the same routine that the CIH (aka Chernobyl) virus has. It affects those running Windows 95/98 or NT.
ALIAS: Win32_Kriz, Win32.Kriz, W32/Kriz, Christmas Virus
        The newspaper article we discussed last week, listed it as W95/Kriz3683 (Christmas virus) – but I couldn’t find it under that name.
        The virus has a payload which activates when an infected file is run on December 25th. When it does it will attempt to erase the computer's CMOS information, which contains information such as date and time, and the type of hard disk the computer uses. This virus will also attempt to directly erase disk sectors. It will attempt to flash the BIOS with garbage. This only works on certain types of BIOSes. If this succeeds, the computer will not boot. This is similar to the action taken by the CIH virus. If the virus is successful the computer will not boot up, not even from a floppy disk. In some cases the virus will corrupt the file it infects and cleaning may not be possible.
        The virus copies the KERNEL32.DLL file to KRIZED.TT6 and then the virus infects this KRIZED.TT6 file. When the computer is restarted, it will replace the KERNEL32.DLL with this infected file.
        If you do the FIND command (from the START button), and locate this file (KRIZED.TT6) – DELETE IT!

PCI-X

        Today’s 33MHz PCI bus carries data at a respectable 132MB per second. Expected at year’s end, the new PCI-X will be 133 MHz and take PCI beyond 1GB per second and it will make 64-bit bus standard. The PCI-X will still be able to use your old PCI cards (because of backward compatibility).

AGP

        The ACP 4X is due out this fall. It will dramatically increase PC graphics performance.

Internet Sites

        Find people by their street address or their phone number. This is known as reverse searches. After the person is located, you can send them flowers, candy, cards, find all their neighbors, or, here is a new concept --- you can pay to learn about their background. They have a link to each of these items – all at the touch of a button.
                  http://www.infospace.com
        Create your own sand art creation.
                  http://www.zeeks.com/applets/Roesser59/Sand/fun.asp

Computer Billing Scams

        Messages that look like they are from your Internet service provider but are actually an effort by con artists to get people's credit card numbers have been showing up in e-mail boxes.
        Computer users should be on the lookout for such messages asking for their credit card number and delete them, sign off the Internet and then sign on again. Then contact your Internet service provider. "This is another scheme by con artists to obtain a credit card number that can be used for unauthorized purchases" according to Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Bob Crawford.