alanpriol typed these pixels from the Land Down Under:
> In a follow up to my previous e-mail regarding the MBR, would using FDISK
> /MBR lock me out of my current OS's
Under certain circumstances, yes. The sudden and disastrous loss of
computer data files under certain conditions is why fdisk /mbr went out
of vogue over five years ago for use in fighting virus infestations.
Here's an old FAQ from the alt.comp.virus list: (Number 4 is probably
the most likely scenario today)
*************************************
You should avoid FDISK /MBR at all costs under the following
circumstances:
1. Under an infection of viruses that don't preserve the Partition
Table e.g., Monkey, reported at 7.2% of
the infections reported to _Virus Bulletin_ for December '95, the last
report for which I have data
2. Under an infection that encrypts data on the hard drive and keeps the
key in the MBR, e.g, One_half --
reported at 0.8% worldwide
3. When security software, e.g., PC-DACS is in use
4. When a driver like Disk Manager or EZDrive is installed
5. When a controller that stores data in (0,0,1) is in use
6. When more than one BSI virus is active, in some conditions
7. When a data diddler is active, e.g. Ripper, accountable for 3.8% of
the infections reported in the
study cited above (N.B.: while this case won't be fixed by AV
utilities, at least one will know why
there are problems with the drive)
*************************************
All the best,
Russell Smith
Edtech Consultant, Journalist
Region 14 ESC Abilene
http://camalott.com/~rssmith
mailto:[log in to unmask]
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