1. Can a floppy be infected by introducing it in a drive?

The answer is NO, unless the virus be memory resident already.

2. Can a virus go memory resident from an infected floppy and infect the hard drive?

The answer is NO (in a pc). You must boot the computer with the floppy inside the drive. Just inserting a floppy in a drive is not enough to infect the system.

3. Can I use "fdisk /mbr" to remove viruses from the hard disk's mbr?

You must not use this DOS command unless you know exactly what you're doing. If the virus has overwritten the partition table or the boot sector check mark (55AAH) or your computer has a non standard mbr (to load an special driver, etc.), you'll get nothing but maybe to spoil your chances to disinfect the system. You better find out what virus has infected your hard disk and ask some experienced fellow about it.

4. What's the use of "Segur"?

First of all, to get a backup of some critical areas (mbr, boot, cmos, ivt, fats and root directory). This way, we can recover from a virus attack which modify or destroy any of them. Having a cmos configuration copy can also be used for restoring it if the cmos battery goes used up.

Well... It does not seem to be worth much, but it's good enough to remove ANY boot virus from your system. I have not found so far any boot / mbr virus who can't be disinfected right away by "Segur"...

5. 'Segur' works fine under DOS, but is real slow under Windows 3.x & Windows 95

That just can't be true. If it's fast under DOS & slow under Windows, it's just Windows fault... Let's see:

- Windows 95:

Open the windows explorer. Look for "segur", click once on the left mouse button and after on the right one. A menu prompts. Choose 'properties'. A properties window opens. In "program", click on "maximized" & "close on exit". In "screen", check "full screen". Press "OK" and everything should be alright...

Repeat these steps with every DOS program included in "Av-tools" ('Segur', 'Copyboot' & 'Tables'). Please, note that I am working with a Windows 95 SPANISH version, so I'm just trying to guess which can be the english menu options... I hope the steps be someway alike.

- Windows 3.x:

Let's create a "pif" file for every "Av-tools" program. In file manager's main window, run the pif editor. A form appears, to be filled like this:

* Program's name: C:\DOS\SEGUR.EXE
* Window's title: SEGUR 3.3 (name & version number)
* Optional parameters: (Leave it blank)
* Initial directory: C:\DOS
* Video memory: Graphics (high res.)
* Memory requirements: Required 128, Desirable 640
* Screen type: Full screen

In this screen, check "close window on exit" and go after to "advanced options". Menu scrolling is slow because of port super- visor. Leave blank "text", "graphics (low)" and "graphics (high)". Click on "emulate text mode" & "keep video memory". Press "O.K.", to exit and go to the first screen.

Now let's save the pif file. Select "file", "save as" and store it as "segur.pif". Leave the editor after.

Repeat these steps with every DOS program included in "Av-tools" ('Segur', 'Copyboot' & 'Tables'). Please, note that I am working with a Windows 95 SPANISH version, so I'm just trying to guess which can be the english menu options... I hope the steps be someway alike .

6. But... ¿how do I boot from DOS under Windows 95 so I can check the stored system areas when I power up?

That's easy... you should create a "C:\DOS" directory and copy the MSDOS-7 files to it. They are in C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND and also in D:\OTHER\OLDMSDOS (Windows 95 CD). "Himem.sys" and "Emm386.sys" are located in the C:\WINDOWS directory.

Now, in a DOS window, go to the root directory. Let's edit the file "c:\msdos.sys", now a text file, so we can boot from DOS. First of all, we must cancel the file attributes with the command:

ATTRIB -R -H -S MSDOS.SYS

Now edit the file with your favourite text editor and make two changes: change BootGUI=1 to BootGUI=0. Add the line LOGO=0 and save the file. Restore the file attributes with the command:

ATTRIB +R +H +S MSDOS.SYS

Now everything is ready to boot from DOS. Windows 95 will work just like Windows 3.x does, I mean, you must type "win" + to start windows...

This won't work with Windows 95 OSR2 version, and I'm afraid it won't either under Windows 98...

7. Under Windows 95 the 'edit and modify sectors' option is no longer possible...

Well... I have always said that "Av-Tools" is for "DOS" and / or "Windows 3.x + DOS". Nevertheless, some users have asked me to include this option for Windows 95. So, from version 3.3 on, they are going to have that option available through interrupts 13h and 26 h. Access through ports won't still be available...

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