Fun_People Archive
10 Jun
Is Windows a virus?

Date: Sat, 10 Jun 95 03:11:42 PDT
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Is Windows a virus?

Forwarded-by: bostic@CS.Berkeley.EDU (Keith Bostic)
Forwarded-by: Jim Thompson <jim@Tadpole.COM>
Forwarded-by: kennedy@lemans.Central.Sun.COM (Doug Kennedy SunSoft)

Is Windows a virus?

No, Windows is not a virus.  Here's what viruses (viri?) do:

1. They replicate quickly -- okay, Windows does that.

2. Viruses use up valuable system resources, slowing down the system
   as they do so -- okay, Windows does that.

3. Viruses will, from time to time, trash your hard disk -- okay,
   Windows does that, too.

4. Viruses are usually carried, unknown to the user, along with valuable
   programs and systems.  Sigh... Windows does that, too.

5. Viruses will occasionally make the user suspect their system is too
   slow (see 2) and the user will buy new hardware.  Yup, that's with
   Windows, too.

   Until now it seems Windows is a virus but there are fundamental
   differences:  Viruses are well supported by their authors, are
   running on most systems, their program code is fast, compact and
   efficient and they tend to become more sophisticated as they
   mature.

So, Windows is *not* a virus.

© 1995 Peter Langston