BKCVP.RVW Please note that the following is a completely fair and unbiased review. I strive at all times to be even-handed in my reviewing. My vested interest in this work in no way can be said to influence my judgement. I mean, to say that just because I spent *THREE SOLID YEARS* writing it means I might have a biased opinion about it is a prejudiced opinion on your part, isn't it? :-) %A Robert M. Slade %C 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 %D 1996 %G 0-387-94663-2 %I Springer-Verlag %O U$29.95 800-SPRINGER, fax 201-348-4505, ref. S965 %O in Europe email ertel@springer.de, UK viv@svl.co.uk %O (and the title was *NOT MY IDEA!*) %P 480 %T "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" This is the most FANTASTIC virus book EVER WRITTEN! This is the most FANTASTIC virus book that EVER WILL BE WRITTEN!! The day this book was released the ENTIRE VIRUS WRITING COMMUNITY committed suicide from depression over the fact that no one would EVER BE HURT BY A VIRUS AGAIN! Book stores are advised to have LARGE STOCKS of the book on hand, prominently displayed, and probably to hire extra staff for the crush of buyers. Grown men have been known to pull their own liver out when told that they could not buy the book! (And that was before it was PUBLISHED!) When we sent the books to reviewers, they typically danced in the streets for joy for several days. However, we reprint here some of the less effusive comments: "Mr. Slade's lists are more interesting than the NYC phone book." - Dr. Fred Cohen "Obviously some johnny-come-lately upstart." - Harold Joseph Highland "Is this guy some kind of comedian?" - William Murray "i think its cute and i like the title but i have a few questions ..." - sara gordon "Wonderful! It certainly cured *my* insomnia!" - Dorothy Denning "A mantlepiece!" - Terry Jones "I only have a hundred new samples that came in this week, and then I'll read it. Promise." - Fridrik Skulason "Should have had more sample code." - Ralph Burger "" - John McAfee (forwarded by Aryeh Goretsky) "Vrooooom, vrooooom!" - Padgett Peterson "Too long." - Ross Greenberg "Still doesn't reliably detect MtE." - Vesselin Bontchev "[A bruised read]" - PGN "Should be powered off, cast in a block of conrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards -- and even then I have my doubts." - Eugene H. Spafford "Where's my baseball bat?" - Edwin Cleton "Is this legal?" - Paul Ferguson "I don't think this is funny." - Brad Templeton "We're the federal government. We don't *do* that." - James Earl Jones "Let me diagram that on a Turing machine for you ..." - Yaron Goland "A great virus book. No, I meant a great *anti*virus book. No, I meant a great *virus* book. No ..." - John Buchanan "Cool." - Ray Kaplan "My title was better than his." - Cliff Stoll "I elisted this book, and I have the password. Therefore I am now the author." - Gene Paris "We probably shouldn't be publicising stuff like this." - J. B. Condat "It sounds amusing. Is it Alive?" - Suzana Stojakovic Celustka Cecil B. DeMille, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, John Houston and Federico Fellini are working on a co-production of the movie version. Casting is not yet complete, but rumours indicate that Tom Hanks will play frisk, Arnold Scwartzenegger will portray Padgett Peterson and Mark Ludwig will be Stoned. The part of Vesselin Bontchev will be played by a Cray YMP. ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor/reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@vcn.bc.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" (Oct. '94) Springer-Verlag Top ten reasons why "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" is better than Brand X: 10. RSGCV is written in a single voice 9. Chapter two, the "Beginner's Panic Guide" 8. RSGCV is not limited to MS-DOS 7. The disk with RSGCV contains software for both MS-DOS and Mac 6. The disk with RSGCV contains software independently judged to be the best of its kind, and from five different vendors. 5. Two words: more contacts. 4. Not just a title list, but full reviews of almost all the books in the field. 3. Author not beholden to any group or company. 2. Antiviral Protection Checklist. And the number one reason why RSGCV is better: 1. Jeff Richards' "Laws of Data Security"