European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 6, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 the stars and stripes Friday october 6,1989 outwit computer viruses expert says by Deedee Arrington Doke  Bureau Kaiserslautern West Germany an air Force computer Security expert is advising personal computer users to turn Back the clock As a temporary defense against computer viruses that arc programmed to strike next week. The viruses arc known by several names including Dat crime i and ii Columbus Day. Icelandic Jerusalem Plo and Friday the i3lh. They Are triggered when an infected program is used anytime after a computer s internal clock passes oct. 9,12 or 13, depending on which Strain of the virus has infected a system. A simple Way to avoid attack. Is to set your system clock Back to an earlier Date said air Force maj. Mike scoring chief of the communications compute Security div at Safe. Reportedly released March i in Europe Dala crime attacks the hard disk data storage devices of ism compatible personal computers that use Microsoft corp s is Dos operating system. It destroys the directory Section making the disk s contents inaccessible. By setting the system clock Back com Puter users can Check for contamination without risking destruction of the directory. Infected files will have swollen by 1,168, 1,280 or 1,514 bytes according to scoring and information released by a Trio of organizations with computer interests the National Institute of Stan Dards and technology the National computer Security Center and the soft Ware engineering Institute. Do it before oct. 9," scoring added. That Dale Marks the Columbus Day Holiday which Falls three Days before the traditional oct. 12 Observance of the Day when Christopher Columbus is believed to have discovered America. That s a temporary measure until you be had time to verify that your sys tem has t been infected he said. Computer viruses arc one form of malicious software that copy themselves and spread from one machine to another through infected floppy diskettes office networks and such phone links As com Puter bulletin boards. Most viruses arc designed to attack personal computers. It s hard to write a virus for a network although it can Bedone. The primary defense against data crime or any other virus is to avoid the use of Public Domain software scoring said. He noted that most computer viruses come from Public Domain software which unlike commercial software generally is created by private computer programmers and made available to hobbyists through bulletin boards and Trad ing with other pc users. It s not hard to create a virus so bring said. Probably anyone who majored in computer science and got half Way decent grades or who has hacked on a computer or two can figure out How to scoring said the virus Likely will not threaten Safe computer data files to any great extent because air Force poli cies regulate the use of software obtained outside government channels. Usa eur commander Gen. Crostic Saint also has forbidden he use of Public Domain software in army computer sys tems in Europe. Computer experts also offer this advice for preventing viruses make frequent backups of disk data and keep several copies. Don t allow others to use your com Puter without your permission. Learn enough about your computer and software you use so that you can distinguish Between Normal and Abnor Mal system activity. If you suspect a virus has infected your system Stop using it and get help from a knowledgeable person. If however a virus docs infect one file in a sys tem scoring warned it s probably on All of them. A cure for the october viruses is not impossible. Since those viruses affect Only the data Bank s Basic track or track of some disk repair packages can remedy the damage scoring said. Coup s forces caught by Surprise officials say Washington a the Swift response of forces Loyal to Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega during tuesday s attempted coup in Panama caught the rebels and american military forces by Surprise . Officials said thursday. They said the . Command s Lack of flexibility was a major Factor in the failure of the Over throw. Meanwhile on Capitol Hill sen. Jesse Helms r n.c., told the Senate he had just received information that the officer identified As the Leader of the coup news briefs Bush to have cyst removed from right Middle Finger Washington a president Bush will undergo surgery to remove a cyst from the mid dle Finger of his right hand the White House said thursday. Bush vowed to keep working de spite this awesome  the president making Light of the minor sur Gery said there was no need to make a Federal Case out of  asked to raise the Finger for a photo he replied Don t tempt  presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Bush would undergo the procedure expected to take about an hour on Friday at Walter Reed army medical Center. The cyst on the end of his Finger just below the Nail has troubled the president for about three years. It simply has reached the Point where it has gotten larger and noticeable Fitzwater said. Fitzwater said Bush would spend two or three hours at Walter Reed and then Fly in the Early afternoon to the presidential Retreat at Camp David my. He will go to Baltimore on sunday to address a group of Republican women and then return to Camp David and remain there until monday afternoon. . Moves to prevent Plo news conference Washington a the state depart ment acted thursday to Block a news conference called in new York by a visiting Palestine liberation organization delegation to the United nations. A . Official said the conference would amount to political activity beyond the Bounds of the visas the five Plo officials were granted in order to enter the country from Tuni Sia to attend the . General Assembly. The news conference had been scheduled by the Palestine Solidarity committee for thursday evening at the United National Church Center across from the United nations. The topics included a proposal for negotiations by israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir and the 22 months of disorder on the West Bank and in Gaza. Maj. Moiscs Giroldi had been executed and that no Riega personally shot the rebel Leader. Helms said he based his account on information collected by his staff from unspecified sources. An administration source speaking on condition of anonymity said the government believes Giroldi is dead but docs not have confirmation. Helms also alleged that while the rebels had Noriega in custody they asked . Authorities to take Cus Tody of him and remove him to the United states. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney denounced Helms claim As  according to . Officials who declined to be identified forces Loyal to Noriega surprised the rebels and the . Military by flying in a company of troops to an Airstrip near the military Headquarters which the insurgents had seized tuesday morning. Shortly after the pro Noriega forces moved in on the Headquarters a key battalion that had not declared itself threw its support to the panamanian Leader the . Officials said. According to the officials the . Southern come could have prevented the Takeoff of the aircraft carry ing the pro Noriega forces by filling the sky Over the air base with american aircraft. But the command did not have the discretionary authority to take that action and did not get the required approval from Washington the officials said. During an appearance on Capitol Hill Cheney was asked about Helms claim that . Officials turned Down an offer to take custody of Noriega. Any charge that we were somehow offered Noriega and did t take him is Hogwash the Secretary replied. Cheney said in an interview with lbs earlier thurs Day that rebels had refused in a fact to fact Contact with a . Military officer to turn Over Noriega during the coup attempt. The administration has insisted that the rebels were not interested in turning Noriega Over to the United states but wanted him simply to retire and remain in Panama. Cheney said that at one Point during the uprising shortly before the coup collapsed Contact Between one of our military officers and two Junior officers that were involved in the coup occurred at fort Clayton a . Facility in Panama. Asked about the meeting Cheney said it was a fact to fact Contact. And that was where they made it Clear to us that they would not turn Noriega Over to  he did not name the individuals involved. Freedom from Page 1 men to officially expel the refugees. Many East germans tried desperately to reach Pra gue and join the exodus but the 200 who made it there decided not to take the trains to West Germany in Stead accepting an offer from the East Berlin govern ment to return Home with a guarantee of emigration within six months. In the East German City of Dresden people fought running Battles with police overturned cars and smashed windows of the main Railroad station wednesday night witnesses said. We want out we want out the would be refugees screamed As police swinging truncheons charged to drive them Back from the Mam Railroad station. An incredible amount of time passed before we could go through Dresden. I think there must have been some disturbances said Guido Albrecht a 26 year old refugee from Potsdam. Witnesses said police also used a water Cannon to try to disperse the crowd As the refugee trains passe through. They said the police broke up the demonstration after Midnight. Thousands of East germans had flocked to train stations and lined the tracks in their Homeland in Hopes of joining the refugees aboard what could be the last of the Freedom trains to the West. In East Berlin police on wednesday scuffled with so East germans trying to enter the . Embassy witnesses said. Eighteen others made it inside the com Pound on tuesday but agreed late wednesday to leave after their government said they will look favourably upon emigration requests . Diplomats said. Iowa from Page 1 nor who were Given punitive letters of admonition. The weapons officer was fined $2,000 and the gun Ner $ 1 ,000, but the fines were forgiven. The weapons control officer has been identified As cmdr. Robert j. Kissinger while the gunner was identified As master chief Petty officer Stephen Skelly. The service said the action against Moosally was less severe because subordinates were held accountable for deficiencies in their specifically assigned  Donnell based his punishment on what he concluded was appropriate for each person the Navy said insisting that the administrative deficiencies had Noth ing to do with the explosion. It should be stressed that although deficiencies in the Iowa s training documentation weapons handling require ments and adherence to safety procedures were found with in the weapons deportment the investigation determined that these shortcomings did not cause or contribute to the explosion the Navy said in a statement. In deciding on the punishments Donnell was required to separate the larger tragedy from the process of determining accountability for administrative train ing safety and ordnance handling deficiencies the Navy  four men can Appeal for a review of the actions