AppleShare File Server and Viruses, Continued



Since an AppleShare file server can be infected with WDEF, can the existence of
WDEF on the server affect its performance? Also, since the server uses a
different format of the Desktop file, which file gets infected?

The WDEF virus causes a significant performance lag on the file server during
the time the Desktop file on the server is being written to. After the initial
infection, there won't be a performance problem.

The file called "Desktop" is the file that is infected. Remember, this is the
file at the root level of the volume. The "Desktop DF" and "Desktop DB" files
created by the Desktop Manager INIT are in the Server Folder, and are not
bothered by the WDEF virus for two reasons:

1) The Server Folder is not accessible by any program on a workstation.

2) WDEF looks for a file called "Desktop" to infect, not "Desktop DF" or
"Desktop DB".


Published Date: Feb 18, 2012