VCM1: Interview to VirusP
by VirusBuster
- How old are you? Where do you come from?
27, i am from Athens, Greece
- Why did you start collecting viruses?
i found it to be a very fascinating hobby
- For how long have you been collecting viruses?
for about 7 years
- Did you ever stop trading viruses and continued after a time? If yes, for how long were you inactive?, why did you stop?, why did you decide to continue?
for about 12 months, while i was serving my military duty
- What are your virus statistics actually? (AVP/F-Prot/... unique/total)
41279 unique virii for AVP
37765 unique virii for F-Prot
21632 virii for MCAFEE
23414 virii for DRWEB
29777 virii for NOD
49394 virii for RAV
- What antivirus do you usually use for making logs? Do you use any other antivirus from time to time? If yes, what are them?
kaspersky, fprot, rav, mcafee, nod32, drweb
- Do the people near you (parents, friends, ...) know you collect viruses?
yes
- Do you consider necessary to avoid telling people you collect viruses? If yes, why?
not necessary, it's just that some people get bored when hearing about so "extreme" computer related stuff. fortunately, there are no laws about virus collecting in greece yet, so i am not afraid of the law enforcement, just in case you wonder
- Do you avoid trading with any collector? If yes, who and what are the reasons?
i avoid trading with bad traders, people that don't keep their word or try to avoid doing so
- Is there any virus collector that you admire for any reason? If yes, who and what are the reasons to admire him?
i admire certain collectors that have been trading for many more years than me, that have managed to learn many more stuff about viruses than me and still have the time and will to continue collecting viruses
- Did you ever work for an antivirus company?
no
- Did you ever trade with an antivirus company or an antivirus researcher?
i believe most of the traders i know have done so, even without knowing it ..
- Do you keep stuff that you can not/do not want to trade?
i keep undetected viruses apart, so you could say i keep some virus samples off trades
- Did you ever exchange your complete virus collection with other collector?
no and i don't intend to do so either
- In your opinion, what is the best and what is the worst antivirus scanner? Why?
i think that kaspersky is the best because it can detect most malware stuff than other software and it has one of the best support teams as well; about the worst av .. cannot tell, too many in my opinion :(
- What is the program you use to process logs?
vs2000
- What is the program you use to rename files?
hrenamer and Slice's vx toolbox
- What is the program you use to sort your collection?
vs2000
- Do you check for fake viruses? If yes, what is the program you use for doing that?
fakescan
- Do you use any additional program for doing any virus collecting task? If yes, what are those programs and what they do?
old vs2000 gui
- How is your collection sorted and stored? Do you keep viruses compressed or uncompressed? What is the directory structure?
the viruses are not compressed, they are renamed to their crc32 checksum and put in folders in alphabetical order
- Do you make backups of your collection? If yes, How often and what is the media you use to make backups?
every month or so, in external hard disk
- Did you used to use VS2000 package tools before it became viriiware? If yes, what is your opinion about the change from freeware to viriiware?, Did you continue using VS2000 package tools after the change?
i always liked vs2000, before and after it became viriiware. made no particular difference to me
- What is your opinion about the viriiware?
fine with me, as long as i have a way to get every new version of vs2000!
- Your greetings, if any, go here:
to all those that have supported me, chatted with me, or said a nice word for me, during all these years, i am most grateful - thank you all!
to all those that don't like seeing my face in the vx-related scene, well i guess you'll keep seeing me for years to come :P
