Doctor Daily v1.0, Copyright 1988 by Guy T. Rice

This program is shareware.  If you continue to use it, you must send $5 to:

Guy T. Rice
1275 Hazelwood St. #101
St. Paul, MN  55106


Section 1: Who or what is Doctor Daily?

Doctor Daily is a program that is very useful in detecting virus infections or
other alterations to files in your system.  The main advantage of Doctor Daily
over other programs is that it is automatic!

You see, I used to use a certain other program to check files on my system to
make sure they were unaltered.  However, I have in the past been described as
"absent minded", and I often forgot to run the program regularly.  Once I ran
it after I had forgotten to do so for about 3 weeks, and I discovered 2 files
had been altered!

You can see the problem.  There was no way for me to isolate which program had
caused the alterations, since I had downloaded and used many new programs over
that 3 week period.  As it turns out, it was nothing serious, no virus.  I was
lucky.  But it got me thinking.  I said to myself, "Self, these virus
detection programs are essentially useless unless you run them regularly.
What do we do?"  And I replied, "I have it!  Lets make a program that you
CAN'T forget to run daily, because it would run itself!"  I agreed that that
was a good idea, so here it is.

The great thing about Doctor Daily is you can't forget to run it.  It runs
itself!  It is installed as a SYSTEM.SETUP file (like several other of my more
popular programs), and once per day, it checks files on your hard drive to
make sure none have been altered.  If they have, it warns you about it.
Pretty simple, really.  Lets walk over to section 2.


Section 2: How do I install and use Doctor Daily?

The Binary II file you got this in should contain four files: DOCTOR.DAILY,
DD.CONFIG, RECHECK, and DR.DAILY.DOCS (the file you are currently reading).
Doctor Daily prefers spacious accommidations (ie. a hard drive), as he always
assumes all the files he needs are on the same disk as he is.  He'll live on
3.5" disk if you make him, but remember he excepts all his files to be online
all the time.

Copy the file DOCTOR.DAILY into your SYSTEM/SYSTEM.SETUP directory.  It does
not matter where it is in the directory (I have it last in mine).  Then copy
DD.CONFIG and RECHECK somewhere on the same disk, although where is
unimportant.  (I keep them in the directory I wrote them in, with my
assembler.  You might want to keep them in your SYSTEM.SETUP directory so you
don't forget where you put them.)

Next, run the program DD.CONFIG.  DD.CONFIG will ask for the complete
pathnames of all the files you want the doctor to check every day.  You might
want to make a list and write them down somewhere before you run DD.CONFIG so
you know what to type in when it asks.  You can enter up to 20 files, although
you probably want to keep it down to a few essentials.  Here's an example:

/A/PRODOS
/A/SYSTEM/P16
/A/SYSTEM/P8
/A/BASIC.SYSTEM
/A/BASIC.LAUNCHER

(Yes, that's right, the boot volume of my hard drive is called /A.  I have two
other volumes, called /B and /C.  It's easier to type.  Besides, I don't have
MS-DOS-ophobia.)

DD.CONFIG will do some checks on these files, then save the data into a data
file that DOCTOR.DAILY needs when he checks things out every day.

RECHECK is a program to use if you want to check your files for alterations
again, after the doctor has already made his daily checkup.  That way, you
don't have to wait until tomorrow if you want to check something out now.

Doctor Daily is completely automatic.  The first time you boot your computer
on a certain day, the doctor will check all the files you told him to check
for alterations.  This happens only the first time you boot that day.  For the
rest of the day, the doctor will leave you alone.  (This is good, because a
complete checkup can often take a couple minutes.  No one wants to sit through
THAT more than once a day when you're just on your way to try out the latest
version of Space Munchies that you downloaded...)


Section 3: I just got an error message, what does it mean?

Doctor Daily will produce a number of different error messages, depending on
what he finds.  Here is a list and a brief explanation:

Cannot find this file:  One of the files Doctor Daily has been assigned to
check has been either deleted or renamed.  If you didn't do it, then someone
(or something) else did.  Time to look for a virus and/or the person who's
been playing with your computer.  (This person might be a virus, but I was
talking about computer viruses...)

File length changed:  You file has either had data added to it, making it
longer, or has had data taken away from it.  Both known ProDOS viruses
(CyberAIDS and Festering Hate) will cause this error if they infect a file.

Checksum mismatch or CRC mismatch:  The contents of the file have been altered
in some way.  Could be a patch of some sort.  Best to resort to a backup.

Access bits changed:  This is the most innocent of the errors.  It means that
a file that was formerly locked has been unlocked, or vice-versa.  If there
are no other errors, this can probably be ignored.  If it accompanies other
errors, its time to resort to a backup and go virus hunting.

Modification date/time changed:  This means the file's last modified date (the
date that shows up in the CAT and CATALOG command) has changed.  The file may
or may not had been modified (it might have simply been resaved), but probably
has.  Copying files can cause this, too.  As with the access bits message, you
can probably ignore it if it isn't accompanied by a checksum, CRC, or length
mismatch error.

If you get an error, and you're pretty sure you didn't cause it yourself (by
installing a patch to one of the programs yourself, or copying it from place
to place, or whatever), you should check all your files for any "funny
business".  If anything is changed or looks somehow different, resort to a
backup.

You should also look at all the programs you've run since Doctor Daily's last
checkup (the date and time of which are listed every time the Doctor gives you
a new checkup.  RECHECK also lists the time of the last checkup).  Try and
figure out what exactly caused the problems.  If you manage to isolate the
source, and you believe it is a virus, let the sysops of the system you got it
from know!  And try to get a letter to me... I'd appreciate it.  I'm always
looking for new infections... <grin>


Section 4: Gosh this is a great program, how can I ever thank you, Guy?

You can thank me by sending me your shareware fee.  Remember, this is not a
free program.  You can try it out for free, but you like it and decide to
continue using it, you must send $5 to me to continue to use it legally.
It is rumored that people who don't send their shareware fee in for the
shareware that they use are subject to 7 years of bad luck.  Please, for your
own safety, send it in.


Section 5: Where can I find out more about viruses?

GEnie is an excellent source of information on viruses.  It is frequented by
Glen Bredon (author of Apple RX), myself (author of Blk0Save & Doctor Daily),
as well as experts like Tom Weishaar, Dennis Doms, and a hoard of very
informed programmers and users.  It has several files about viruses in its
software libraries, and a couple of virus topics in its Bullentin Board.

One file you might especially want to check out is the transcript of a
conference held on GEnie about viruses.  It is file #5050 in the A2 software
libraries on GEnie.

Please note: GEnie is not the only source of virus information, and I don't
mean to suggest that it is.  I'm sure that the other services also have good
virus info.  It's just that GEnie is the one I'm most familiar with, so its
the only one I can speak for here.


Section 6: How can I get ahold of the Guy who wrote this wonderful program?

You can send me mail on GEnie.  My GE mail address is "GUY.T.RICE".  You can
also send me mail through the US Postal Service (Snail-Mail) at the address
listed at the top of this file.  Finally, you can upload messages and small
files to my modem buffer by calling (612) 774-3354.  It will first prompt you
for a filename, and then ask you whether the message is by keyboard or Xmodem.
You can save on your long distance bill by typing the message ahead of time
and Xmodem uploading it.


Section 7: What were you high on when you wrote these docs?

Lack of sleep.


Section 8: How many more sections are there?

None.
