Is Windows 95 a virus?
(page last updated 25/06/98).
Conclusion: No, Windows 95 is not a virus.
Research summary:
Here's what viruses do:
- Viruses replicate quickly - okay, Windows 95 does that.
- Viruses use up valuable system resources, slowing down the system as
they do so - okay, Windows 95 does that.
- Viruses will, from time to time, trash your hard disk - okay, Windows 95 does
that too.
- Viruses are usually carried, unknown to the user, along with valuable
programs and systems. Sigh... Windows 95 does that, too.
- 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 95, too.
Until this point it seemed Windows 95 is a virus, but we discovered
fundamental shortcomings:
Viruses generally are well-supported by their authors, run on most systems of
their chosen type, use program code that is fast, elegant, compact and
efficient, and they tend to become more sophisticated as they mature. These
are categorical, but consistent, characteristics of viruses, which are
inconsistent with Windows 95. We must therefore disqualify it.
Windows 95 is not a virus --- It's a bug.
Robert Chasmer -
(C) KAOS 95-97.