passing a virus on a show

[pushu]

If my computer is infected with any sort of virus, and I create an exe show - burn it to a cd for a customer

can the virus infect their computer? Is that possible.

I have a customer that is insisting that I gave them a virus, and they aren't too happy about it

[Ken Cox]

get the show back and scan on your system with your anti virus -- also do a free scan of the exe on your system with trend micro for example

http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/s.../start_corp.asp

dont get into a who did /how did pissin match -- try and satisfy the customer asap -- viruses are spread in funny ways

ken

[Guest Techman1]

Pushu,

To answer your question; "Yes, it is possible". Have you scanned your own system with an antivirus software? Have you ensured that your own antivirus software is updated with the most current version? Do you have a boot CD or diskette that will allow you to boot clean and then run a scan of your system. Some viruses aren't always detected right away from some antivirus software systems.

As Ken states, as a good-will measure offer to scan the CD that you sent. Also, have they given you the virus name? You can check to see what type of virus it is and if it generally comes in the form of an executable.

This always concerns me about sending CD's to customers, but it's a part of the business and a potential exposure. Good luck and let us know what you find out.

Fred

[pushu]

I have scanned my system and try very hard to stay up to date on my anti virus software.

I scanned the shows that were burned to the cd and they came up clean, but don't have the actual cd to scan.

Turns out it may not have been a virus after all. After getting a bit more info, the customer was told it could have been a virus and it could have come from the cd.

I guess I won't loose any sleep over it but was curious to know if it could be passed along on a show.

I can't find any trace of a virus on my system but not to say there never was one there.

[alrobin]

Pushu,

A couple of years ago there was a scare amongst PTE users when we discovered that Norton Antivirus was indicating that certain slideshows were infected. However, this turned out to be a false alarm, and the antivirus system was corrected so that PTE files did not trigger an alarm. Maybe your client is using outdated anti-virus software.

[Robby]

I suggest you add a notepad file stating that all was done to ensure there was no viruses when the cd was burned but the person putting the CD in his/her PC should run their own scan just to make 100% sure.

You can asweel add the same info on the cd cover.

BUT... ensure you are protected against viruses. That is a difficult enough task!!

[Igor]

Most likely you'll see some error message on starting slide-show if it infected. I've seen such cases. Main shell of PTE also will not work in this case and will show you "File corrupted" message.

[pushu]

thanks for the replys.

the more info I get the more it seems that there was no virus. when the client put the disc into his laptop, it started doing all kinds of crazy things (according to him) I think what it comes down to is that his laptop already had issues and perhpas the loading of the show was the last straw. He wants me to burn him a new disc so I think he knows it as well.

thanks again

[Ken Cox]

Pushu

if the original disc works on your system - nicely give it back to the client and tell him it works ok on my system

ken