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Virus Killer 2000

Ten years of ultimate virus killing, Richard Karsmakers reminisces...

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On 12th December 1987 the Ultimate Virus Killer first saw the light of day - although back then it was called the Virus Destruction Utility and has undergone several name changes since then culminating with this anniversary release called Ultimate Virus Killer 2000.

Following the discovery of the Signum virus during the winter of 1987/88 development moved fast. New viruses appeared regularly and the Virus Destruction Utility was regularly updated to keep track of these at the same time evolving into a stable software package, capable of running on any ST configuration and widely used throughout the Atari community. Here's a time line which highlights key events in the last decade:

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1987
November: Klaus Seligmann discovers the Signum Virus, Frank Lemmen writes the first virus killing utility, 4USKILL.PRG.
December: The first version of the Virus Destruction Utility appears, released as a public domain program. J Schuppener writes the Mad Virus (a bootsector virus also known as Atari Spezial Virus) for an article in the German magazine Atari Spezial.

1988
March: The German c't magazine publishes an article by Eckhard Krabel featuring a type-in listing of a complete and working link virus called Milzbrand (AKA Anthrax).
April: With the release of v3.0, the Virus Destruction Utility is no longer public domain.
July: c't strikes again, this time featuring an article with a type-in listing of a bootsector virus which became known as the c't virus, by Thomas Koziel and Guido Leister.
September: VDU v3.2 released, and begins make an impression. The German company Nightmare Software releases Virus Construction Set II, which anyone can use to create a variety of different link viruses.
November: The infamous Ghost Virus, arguably the most "popular" virus, is discovered.
December: In Les Ellingham's Page 6 magazine, the first article on ST viruses and the VDU appears in the UK.

1989
March: Entire hard disk partitions can now be checked at the touch of a button using VDU. Previously files had to be checked one by one manually. The fifth and (to date) final link virus on the ST is discovered - the Crash Virus. Niall McKiernon's Excel Software takes up VDU distribution in the UK.
April: The Goblin Virus is discovered.
May: VDU renamed to Atari ST Virus Killer (AVK) and is marketed world-wide by CRL. The Evil Virus is discovered.

1990
March: The first non-executable bootsector virus, the Bat Virus, is discovered. Henrik Alt releases the final version of the Sagrotan virus killer.
April: Helmut Neukirchen writes the definitive version of his remarkable AntiVirus anti-virus.
May: Non-executable bootsector viruses are now also recognised by the AVK and a new, more advanced, method of disk immunisation against bootsector viruses is devised and implemented.
December: Atari ST User magazine cover disk includes the Goblin Virus.

1991
February: The Wolf Virus, the first bootsector virus to disguise itself as an MS-DOS-compatible bootsector, is discovered.
April: George Woodside releases the final version of his popular public domain virus killer, Vkiller.
May: Atari ST Virus Killer renamed to Ultimate Virus Killer (UVK), marketed by Oregon Research Associates in the US and Douglas Communications in the rest of the world.
August: UVK v5.2 is now resolution independent and runs at any resolution from ST-medium (640x200 pixels) or higher.

1992
March: The Lietuva Virus, from Lithuania, is discovered
July: UVK can now optionally be run from a command line. XBRA chains are now analysed to the very end.
August: Henrik Alt releases the final version of Toxis, the sequel to Sagrotan.
October: ST Format cover disk includes the Evil Virus. The German TOS magazine cover disk included a virus (all 60,000 copies)!

1993
January: Torbjørn Ose wrote a small control panel which enables basic virus killing functions and this was subsequently included with the UVK.
March: UVK can now also be used as a desk accessory by renaming the executable from PRG to ACC. The Belstein Virus - the most threatening and devious virus ever on the Atari platform is discovered. Volker Söhnitz (who discovered the Beilstein Virus) releases the final version of his Virendetektor virus killer.
October: UVK now uses proper GEM dialogs and windows, utilising Gregor Duchalski's Flydials GEM library for GFA Basic.

1994
February: First Lucky Lady virus is discovered from the former Yugoslavia.
April: UVK is made multi-tasking aware. The milestone of 1500 different bootsectors recognised is passed.
September: The Tiny Virus, probably the world's smallest virus (occupying less than one third of a bootsector) is discovered. Bernhard Artzt releases the final version of his Poison! virus killer.
October: Ultimate Virus Designer, a program enabling up to 200 different bootsector viruses to be created, is released by the Slovenian Stonewashing Organisation. Kai Holst releases the final version of his Antidote virus killer.

1995
June: The Ultimate Virus Killer Book is released.

1996
February: UVK updated to run under MultiGEM, MultiTOS, Geneva and MagiC.
March: The Pharaohs Curse and Carpe Diem viruses discovered.
November: UVK distribution rights revert from Douglas Communications to the author. FaST Club appointed as UK distributor, Oregon Research continues to handle US distribution.

1997
August: UVK updated to run under both Gemulator and PaCifiST Atari emulators.
December: Ten years of Ultimate Virus Killing and 103 viruses later, Ultimate Virus Killer 2000 v8.0 is released.
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UVK 2000 is unrivalled in the recognition stakes.
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** Boxout **
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Ultimate Virus Killer 2000
The only virus killer capable of recognising over 100 different viruses on the Atari platform including the Pharaohs Curse, Carpe Diem and Yugoslavian Ultimate Virus Designer viruses which are not recognised by any other virus killer!

Order a copy of this at a special Atari Computing discount price of £8.95 by quoting "UVK 2000 AC" when placing your order with the FaST Club - use the order form on the inside back page.
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