Made in America-8years and going strong

I have a Fountain Computer which I use when my Dell is misbehaving. I have had little or no problems with it over the 8 years of really busy service in my work...just 1 new HD !

I am running Windows 3.1 and still enjoy the interface.

The Fountain Computer is not Internet connected ......Floppies loaded from it show the ' Stoned ' Virus when checked on the Dell with AVG virus checker.

I would be grateful if a fellow 3.1 enthusiast would point me at an internet source for a virus checker that I could download and transfer to ' Old Faithful '

All suggestions will be welcomed.

Regards

Hello There,

Here are two DOS AV programs you can look at.

http://dos.li5.org/downloads/av.htm

Others will have more suggestions.

Dave

Hello Davidgsmith

Thank you for kindly sparing your time to help me. I will follow up your suggestions.

I was in Pheonix once,( briefly ) and thought it a great place, wide streets and fine buildings the weather was great too ( Whilst I was there that is)

Thanks again

Hello davidgsmith

I haven't had any joy with the freeware program you gave me the link to.............my ineptitude I guess ! The Win 3.1 machine is not Internet connected unfortunately, and the files are large. Something goes missing in attemps to put on floppy to feed the old machine.

I was told some time ago that I could get rid of the boot sector virus 'Stoned spirit ' on the 3.1 machine by using the FDISK command. This sounds drastic and I wonder if it is likely to solve my problem.

I see from your sign-on that you are a very experienced chap...can you comment on the suggestion? Is it a very drastic thing to do ?

I am reasonably computer literate and have on previous occasions ventured as far as going into the BIOS and also in times of difficulty have re-installed windows and all my peripherals...would you recommend that I go along the FDISK road?

Thanks again for your help.

Please read into the FDISK command a little more!!!

You have to use with the parameter:

FDISK /MBR

What that does is to restore the Master Boot Record.
A FDISK command will (without too much trouble) completely write over your hard drive.

On most DOS commands (like FDISK), you can use the parameter:

FDISK /?

Which will give you the options available when you use the commands-also give you a little insight into the program itself.


Hope this helps.

Thanks for your help Ralp3124.

I would be grateful if you could take the time to spell out step by step what I do.......I take it that I start at the DOS prompt...............what do I do from there on?

I want eventually to link the two machines...I am guessing that to do this I will have to install 3.1 in the Dell, ( My latest machine ).........or could I simply send files in ASCI format too and fro?

By the way we have an Abingdon about 12 miles away from High Wycombe, it is in Berkshire, in the Thames Valley, I bet it isn't as pleasant as you town though !

At the C:\ prompt, type:

FDISK /MBR

Can't help you more than that, as I have never used that parameter, however, it's supposed to restore the Master Boot Record (as I said before). This shouldn't destroy any information you have on your disk (except the virus-so they say), and will re-write the MBR.

After that, presumably, you would re-boot, and it should boot up to your Operating System.

I presume your next step would run the anti-virus again to make sure you got rid of the virus.

Thanks again ralph3124

I will try again at the weekend...here's hoping !

I'd think the AV recovery floppy[s] you made in 98 would clear that out.

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...q=Stoned+virus

Thanks Train, I will give it a whirl and post back later.

Regards and thanks for your time

Hello Train

I looked at the AVG recovery disk...it appears to contain the essential files for re-booting the Dell which is running Win 98FE.. would this reboot the Fountain running Win 3.1 ?

Regards

What CPU is in the Fountain, (286, 386, 486, Pentium), and how much memory (RAM)?

Thanks for your interest Vernon Frazee

The Fountain is a 486 with as I remember it 64# of base memory,
7128# extended with (again as I remember it) 32# of Ram.

I don't remember how to establish this information, never having to have gone into the innards of the machine in all the years I have had it, in spite of partially earning my living using it (There's a reference for Fountain..if they still exist !)

Do I take it that you have another suggestion for me ? Others have given advice but I haven't made any progress as yet..due to my ineptitude I guess.

Regards,

Try this:

1. Get on your Dell and log on to the Internet.
   
2. Click here to download fp-disk1.exe (862,240 [842K] bytes) and save it to C:\ (i.e., the root directory [folder] of drive C:).
   
3. Click here to download fp-disk2.exe (1,119,207 [1,093K] bytes) and also save it to C:\ (i.e., the root directory [folder] of drive C:).
   
4. Insert a blank formatted 1.44MB floppy in drive A:
   
5. Click Start|Run, type c:\fp-disk1.exe and press [Enter].
   
6. Remove the diskette from A:, label it "F-PROT Disk 1" and then write-protect it, (i.e., slide the little write-protect tab on the back of the diskette up towards the top of the diskette).
   
7. Insert another blank formatted 1.44MB floppy in drive A:
   
8. Click Start|Run, type c:\fp-disk2.exe and press [Enter].
   
9. Remove the diskette from A:, label it "F-PROT Disk 2" and write-protect it.
   
10. Insert the "F-PROT Disk 1" diskette in the Fountain computer and then boot it up from this diskette.
    
    (Note: This may require you to reset a setting in CMOS Setup to allow the system to boot from drive A:).
    
11. When instructed, remove "F-PROT Disk 1", replace it with "F-PROT Disk 2" and press [Enter].
    
12. When the copying is complete, F-PROT will automatically start. Press the [Enter] key twice to start scanning your hard drive(s) for viruses.
    
    (Since F-PROT is menu-driven and fairly self-explanatory, you should be able to take it from there).
    
13. When you exit F-PROT, you'll be instructed to "Remove the diskette from A: and press [Enter] to reboot".
    
14. Hopefully, F-PROT will have, with your help, successfully removed any viruses and your Fountain computer will automatically boot up from a virus-free drive C:.

Note: You will have a new C:\F-PROT directory (folder) on your Fountain computer which contains all of the F-PROT files. The F-PROT.EXE in that directory is the main program file.

Hello again Vernon Frazee

I am most grateful for all the time that you have spent in setting out the solution to my problem.

I will copy it to a file and also print it out so that I can follow it word for word as I work.

I should tell you that although I have been using computers for about 8 years that I am of the older breed ( 74 years young 0 that expect things not to work and not of the younger breed probably such as yourself who expect thing to work !

I will be trying your solution in the next few days and will mail back.

Hello Vernon Frazee

You are my ' Main man ' !

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the trouble you took in setting out the step by step instructions on downloading and transferring the files necessary to ridding me of that wretched ' Stoned Spirit '
virus that has bothered me so much.

F-prot seems to be a first rate product.

When following your instructions I had a brief period of panic when the message came on screen mentioning ' Win 95 ', but it cleared away on the next key touch and the program proceeded to identify the intruder and disinfect the machine.

As you said there is now an exec. file which I can use again although as the machine does not have to be internet connected and if I take care over what I put into it I shouldn't have another problem.

One last question.....Now the Fountain is virus free, I would like to
link it to the Dell....do I have to have Win 3.1 on the Dell or will it suffice to send asci or text files each way.

I do like Win 3.1 and use PFS ' Window Works ' ,which I guess would be called a legacy program, on the Dell, as well as the old 3.1 ' File manager ' That prompts me to think that it might not be too difficult to share files, I could then have a machine downstairs as well as upstairs and my wife might see more of me evening times!

Once again many thanks, and my regards,

Thanks also to all the other friends who helped me,davidgsmith,
ralph3124 and Train.

Regards and best wishes