The Surgeon General's Report on AIDS
                (All Internal Destruction Subprograms)

        The Surgeon General's office report a computer virus of epidemic
        proportions growing in the computing community.  These viruses
        are deadly and there is no known single cure for all of the
        strains.  The virus attacks the comupter where it has the least
        defense: the operating system.  Then it slowly destroys the
        system by slowly eliminating small portions of data.  The
        original strain has been shown to be suppressed by the program
        AZT (Anti-Zealous program Terminator), but the product may be
        over-marketed, and lesss effective than promised.  Additional
        strains have shown little effect when exposed to this program.
        A virus may be contained in a disk or memory for long periods of
        time before showing any of the effects.  Some are time triggered
        to go off at certain times (Columbus day, Fri 13, Halloween,
        ect.)  but all viruses seem to have some effect on all of its
        victims.

        Some users and computers are at greater risk than others.  Those
        computers that communucate with their own kind (homocommunals)
        are the apparant target of many viruses, although the virus can
        be communicated to other computer types, as well.  Those
        computers using DOS seem to have the highest concentration of
        the virus, compared to non-DOS machines.  Data recovery experts
        are often exposed to viruses by accidentally putting their own
        disk into an infected computer, or having an infected disk used
        on their own systems.  These experts should take extreme care in
        workign in these environments so they will not contract the
        disease.  Virus hunters have much the same risk.

        The Surgeon General's office reccomends the following measures
        to the US Government and its citizens:

        1) Don't do DOS.  If you MUST dont share your disks, or at least
           use a cleansing program on those disks before using them.

        2) Do NOT copy programs from another computer, or if you must,
           try to only copy programs with another or a small, closed
           group that has been tested for the virus, and do NOT have it.
           There must be NO outside input into this group, or the whole
           group may be exposed.

        3) Avoid BBS's and Software pools known to carry illegal or high
           risk programs that have been uploaded and downloaded.
           Especially those that require payment for copy priviledges.

        4) Also, we should regulate and heavily test all Public Domain
           programs and distributors and recovery specialists for signs
           of the viruses.  These are especially at risk since they
           draw programs from those who don't know that they have the
           virus, or those that don't know that it is contageous.


        The Surgeon General's office feels that these precautions will
        curtail the spread and magnitude of the disease, if the public
        is willing to act now.  Soon, everybody in the nation will know
        someone with the virus, and you may have to work next to a
        computer that has it.

                              C. Chicken Coop