On Wed, 09 Oct 2002 12:48:59 EDT, Patrick Price <[log in to unmask]> said:
> I wish someone would write a "virus" that is actually a self-spreading
> antivirus. Wouldn't that be something?
Yes, it would be a mess. ;)
The idea has been considered seriously several times (most notably during
the Code Red/Nimda attacks), and was shelved for very good reasons. Nobody
could figure out how to avoid being sued to our collective skivvies if it
were to accidentally trash a machine while trying to disinfect it.
And that was against a single specific threat - a general antivirus would
be basically impossible to do (hint - why do you think you need to download
new templates all the time for Norton or Trend or whatever you use?)