🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <AWInlWy00XM3zxg0HU@andrew.cmu.edu> jv0l+@andrew.cmu.edu (Justin Chris Vallon) writes:
>Maybe I'm missing something, but how does a virus killer do its thing?  Are
>these INITs/applications AI programs which disassemble the code in question,
>figure out what it does, and eliminate it if it is "dangerous"?  I'd like to
>see this AI code... so would the rest of the world.  :->

No, this is not at all what they do.  (At least it is not the approach that
the nVIR killer takes.)  I would say that a virus killer like the one you
describe is impossible.  To write such a program would be to solve the 
halting problem (which we know to be impossible).
>
>Seriously, what could a virus-killer do?

Well, the only one that I know anything about is the nVIR killer.  It simply
takes advantage of a feature that the nVIR author put in the virus.  He/She
created a way to keep his own system clean during development and the nVIR
vaccine does the same thing.  We may not be so lucky next time.  In short, 
computer vaccines have to be specific to the virus against which they protect.
>
>Enlighten me!
>
>-Justin
>justin.vallon@andrew.cmu.edu


-=-
Marc Sarrel			The Ohio State University
611 Harely Dr #1		Department of Computer and Information Science
Columbus, OH  43202-1835	sarrel@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
Disclaimer:  Hey, what do I know?  I'm only a grad student.