VCM2: Interview to Basketcase
by VirusBuster
- How old are you? Where do you come from?
Right now I'm 36, July 27 is my birthday. I was born in America, but I live in Poland.
- Why did you start collecting viruses?
I got interested in viruses about 7 or 8 years ago.
- For how long have you been collecting viruses?
I started trading about - I think it was about 4 years ago.
- 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?
I stopped twice:
The first time was about 2 years ago, when I lost my whole collection.
The second was in July 2003 until about January 2004, I moved house and I had no access to internet.
- What are your virus statistics actually? (AVP/F-Prot/... unique/total)
Using [vs2000 -b]:
DOS - F-Prot 3.14e = 36532
DOS - Mcafee VirusScan for DOS/PM 4.24.0 = 18091
DOS - NOD32 (commandline) = 23337
DOS - RAV (commandline) = 42380
Win - KAV 4.5.0.95 = 37866
Win - KAV 4.5.0.95 (with x-files) = 38309
Win - NOD32 = 23066
- What antivirus do you usually use for making logs? Do you use any other antivirus from time to time? If yes, what are them?
No, just what you see above.
- 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?
No ... they just think I'm weird.
- Do you avoid trading with any collector? If yes, who and what are the reasons?
Sometimes. I used to have fakes, but I didn't use fakescan from vs2000. When I get fakes, I stop trading with that trader for a while.
- Is there any virus collector that you admire for any reason? If yes, who and what are the reasons to admire him?
TRNEY - honest, timely, understanding VirusBuster - great software, willing to talk when there are questions - %) - do i get the "brownie" points? hehe
- Did you ever work for an antivirus company?
No.
- Did you ever trade with an antivirus company or an antivirus researcher?
Not that I know of.
- Do you keep stuff that you can not/do not want to trade?
No, noone has asked that of me. When there was the "no trade" situation for a while, I did. But everything I have, I trade.
- Did you ever exchange your complete virus collection with other collector?
No, but I did offer once though.
- In your opinion, what is the best and what is the worst antivirus scanner? Why?
I'm not an expert in this area, but the ones that I use are based on the ease that it is used.
- What is the program you use to process logs?
VS2000 - but I prefer the command line rather than the menu. I don't know why, but I do.
- What is the program you use to rename files?
RenExts 1.53 - I have other versions though.
- What is the program you use to sort your collection?
File Weeder (Generation Next 1.10 2002, by Cyber Warrior) ... I use it because it has the added function of weeding out "fakes". Like I said, I'm no expert on programming, so I couldn't tell you what a fake was. If you want - I could send them to you so you can see them.
- Do you check for fake viruses? If yes, what is the program you use for doing that?
VS2000 and File Weeder
- Do you use any additional program for doing any virus collecting task? If yes, what are those programs and what they do?
Just what I mentioned above.
- How is your collection sorted and stored? Do you keep viruses compressed or uncompressed? What is the directory structure?
I try to uncompress if they are the major programs; rar, zip, arj, ace.
If the are done by PKLite, LZEXE, UPX, Diet ... I try, but I don't always have time. And now there are so many - I lose count.
- Do you make backups of your collection? If yes, How often and what is the media you use to make backups?
Yes - about every 2 months - CDs.
- 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?
Yes, it has grown to include more programs and functions - some of which I don't use.
- What is your opinion about the viriiware?
I can live with it. I understand that nothing in life is free.
- Your greetings, if any, go here:
VirusBuster, TRNEY, Germano, ViraX, m0n30 - These are the people that I mainly trade with.
