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Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 10:54:43 -0500
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
From: "Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)" <lhall AT rfk DOT com>
Subject: Re: anybody else also infected
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At 10:37 AM 2/14/2002, you wrote:
>On Thu, Feb 14, 2002 at 03:31:22PM +0000, David Starks-Browning wrote:
> >On Thursday 14 Feb 02, Peter Buckley writes:
> >> I agree about the healthy skepticism- this was obviously a false 
> >> positive from the very start, but I don't think the faq addresses this 
> >> type of false positive.
> >
> >Addressing virus alerts in the FAQ has always been a dilemma for me.
> >I do not like to give the advice "disable your antivirus software" or
> >"turn off checking for C:\cygwin".  It seems to me that such action
> >could be exploited.
> >
> >Should the FAQ say something like "do not bother the list with virus
> >alerts unless you have independently verified that it is not a false
> >positive"?  This would apply to all Cygwin software, package archives,
> >DLLs, ...
> >
> >There was a special problem with Cygwin Setup because NAI/McAfee would
> >hang the system when opening tar.gz archives.  Maybe this is not a
> >problem anymore, and can be removed from the FAQ.  Or the advice could
> >be simplified to be "update your antivirus software or replace it with
> >another vendor's product".  Of course not everyone can do that, but
> >that's not our problem.
> >
> >Thanks for your opinions.
>
>My opinion is that common-sense practices don't belong in the FAQ.


I have to say I agree.  However, common sense seems to be loosely interpreted
on this list.  I guess the question is how much of a substitute for common
sense should the FAQ be? ;-)

For those that need the added support, I think the altered wording that
David suggests (i.e. don't bother the list with virus alerts if you can't
confirm them yourself) is worthwhile, considering that we already have a
couple of virus entries.  Of course, I have no delusions that having FAQ
entries or changed wording will eliminate virus postings to this list.  I
personally would just like to be able to point to the entry in response and
have that end the thread. OK, I know, I'm still living close to my utopia. ;-)




Larry Hall                              lhall AT rfk DOT com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
838 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX


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