Foreword

IBM, when it created the PC, deliberatly used the strategy of open architecture to compete with other vendors in the market at that time. The availability of the complete design internals of the PC architecture, coupled with the internals of DOS not only led to the sporadic growth of the IBM PCs and compatibles (clones) but also helped create many innovative software products (including games) and that too, solely through a garage kind of set-up.

The PC, being a personal computer, is expected to be used by an individual who owns it. But it rarely happens that way. In corporate houses, educational centers, even at home, the PC gets shared. When one executive leaves, another one is hired and allotted that PC. (I have a PC at my office, but I don't have the liberty of taking it home, although it is a "personal" computer!) Thus the PC, at best, can be technically called a single user computer.

Now, a computing equipment which will be operated by a single user at a time, need not have the operating system which provides a whole lot of support for the security of data and the user of other resources residing on the equipment. Thus, DOS neither takes the trouble of authenticating who the user is, nor it provides support to software developers for this purpose.

This leads to an interesting situation wherein users can think of writing programs that can not only modify other program files residing on a PC, but also perpetuate this operation when the executable files are copied to other PCs. This possibility has led to the sporadic growth of viruses in PC based computing environments. For users who pay no regards to the software copyrights, some of us may consider this as a deserved punishment (this is what some peoplesay when asked how viruses originated), but surely, viruses are a nuisance and added work for the novice, honest and sincere users, significantly decreasing their overall productivity. To tackle the virus menace there should be some robust anti-virus support material easily available. Today, it has be come mandatory for system administrators, network administrators, and support staff to have atleast rudimentary knowledge on how viruses operate, how to recover from them when attacked and what strategies can be adopted for combating viruses. In fact, these days, organizations with a large PC based computing environment will find it difficult to manage the necessary end-user support without some in-house expertise on viruses.

The question is how does one obtain the necessary knowledge base for dealing with PC based viruses. I have tried hard to locate the necessary material, but never felt satisfied with any, except to some extent what was available on the USENET bulletin boards. I personally felt that the ability for intelligent hacking, the ability to conceptualize belief in prevention is better than cure, and a good knowledge of public domain anti-virus software forms are the necessary skills set to manage viruses efficiently.

Around the same time, when I was looking for a strategy to manage the viruses for a computing environment which had more than 300 PCs in an inter-network, Saumil started working with me on a variety of network and system administration tasks and automatio n of these tasks. One of the tasks which he carried out very effectively from time to time was to locate the perfect anti-virus utility (vaccine) or to write one if one was not readily available. For him, the discovery of the presence of some new virus on a PC was a delight; but for me, his delight was a puzzle till I came to know that he is preparing for an anti-virus book. Presence of a new virus offered him a practical opportunity to apply and test out the conceptual base and programming techniques discussed in this anti-virus book.

What pleased me most when I read the book was the fact that it is one of the most comprehensive books on the viruses that I have seen so far. Books which attempt to be comprehensive in their contents no doubt provide good breadth to the subject matter and, thus, qualify for one-stop anti-virus survival guides. However, such books, in their attempt to have a good breadth, tend to lack the necessary conceptual depth and on the whole, make the overall contents too shallow to hold the interest of serious users.

Given the fact that PCs are now used by a variety of non-technical users, it can't be expected that all the PC users will possess the ability to write programs. But we also need to equip such end-users with the knowledge to manage viruses on a day-to-day bases. This is where I was delighted with the contents of the book and the waay this content is structured. The book can be regarded as a complete comprehensive book on managing viruses even if one omits the above mentioned two technical chapters on writing anti-virus programs.

The book begins with the necessary conceptual base on how viruses operate, and it then immediately answers many frequently asked questions included those which dispel myths about viruses, in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 covers the internals of the PC and DOS. The contents of this chapter are useful not only for those who want to prepare themselves to write anti-virus programs, but also to others, like power-users, system staff and computer architecture studetns who are desirous of understanding PC internals to equip themselves for systems programming or managing DOS environments better. The contents of this chapter will also satisfy those end-users who want to know little more on the technical front to combat with the viruses, but do not possess the abilities to write programs.

No doubt the book offers excellent anti-virus strategies for individuals. But it really stands out when it addresses the issues concerning the system and network administrators who deal with the network based PC environments. I have personally had less faith in commercial packages and believed more in prevention strategies. What is really good about the book is it tries to automate the prevention based strategies with programs like Guard and Guardian.

Public domain anti-virus software packages are not only effective but also inexpensive. However, there is a plethora of public domain anti-virus packages easily available and one has not only to figure out which are the better ones but also understand which one to use and when. Chapter 4 offers an excellent selection from what is available in the public domain and it provides an intelligent comparative analysis citing what to use in which situation.

In my capacity as a technology investigator and as a system and network administrator, I always insist on support documentation from my system staff. When I read Saumil's book for the first time, I felt that I need no documentation for the strategies to combat the viruses.

End-users, power-users, system administrators and network administrators will all find this book not only very useful for its contents, depth and breadth, but also a valued possession as a reference material, deserving a place right on the computer table. In case you are managing more than say 5 to 6 PCs, then this book is a must on your desk as an easily accesible reference material.

Introduction | Front Cover | Back Cover | Foreword | Preface
Contents | Software | About the Author
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