OWS Compression- 1500-->1 - ows.zip (0/1)
Steven Landsman
someone sent me this ows program. it compresses 1500 bytes to 1
byte. That means you can compress your entire hard drive onto a 1.4
Mb disk
problems:no directory structure maintained
VVVVEEEERRRRYYYYY SSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW
anyone know of NE-thing else like this, w/o probs.?
************************************************************************************
"Why the hell not?!"-Anonymous
Tom Lane
OWS is a fraud, Zorro. It's not actually compressing anything,
just hiding the data in unused disk sectors.
See the comp.compression FAQ.
regards, tom lane
Chris Wood
Zor...@mail.idt.net (Steven Landsman) wrote:
>someone sent me this ows program. it compresses 1500 bytes to 1
>byte. That means you can compress your entire hard drive onto a 1.4
>Mb disk
To quote another chap in another newsgroup...
"Yup, It's September again..."
_____________________________________________________________________
Chris Wood
Software Developer "Yew Scwewy Wabbit" - Elmer Fudd
MLB 4/70, BT Labs,
Martelsham Heath, TEL: +44 (0)1473 642101
Ipswich, IP5 7RE, UK FAX: +44 (0)1473 647417
Andreas Bauer
Diese Nachricht antwortet auf einen Text,
den Zor...@mail.idt.net am Montag, den 30.09.96,
durch die Datennetze geschossen hat:
Hello Steven
SL> someone sent me this ows program. it compresses 1500 bytes to 1
SL> byte. That means you can compress your entire hard drive onto a 1.4
SL> Mb disk
You are a big fool.
Your "mega-compressor" is a simple trojan-horse.
1) if you look into the docs, you'll see no eMail-adress.
2) the files are highly protected against debugging and decompression
Therefore i tried the package on a disk:
it compressed a rar-file from 30k downto 40 bytes or so.
This can *never* be possible, neither by a "fractal"-compressor nor by
any other.
It seems that the virus uses some tricks to let the user think that the
compression works.
Again:
THIS PACKAGE IS A TROJAN HORSE, DON'T EXECUTE.
IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME, COPY A BIG FILE TO A BOOT DISK, SWITCH OFF YOUR
HD IN BIOS, "COMPRESS" THE FILE, COPY THE "ARCHIVE" AND THE "UNPACKER"
TO ANOTHER DISK AND TRY TO UNCOMPRESS.
BUT BE SURE THAT YOUR HD IS NOT ACCESSIBLE.
SL> problems:no directory structure maintained
SL> VVVVEEEERRRRYYYYY SSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW
SL> anyone know of NE-thing else like this, w/o probs.?
Did you write this virus ? You've spread it anyway.
I suggest you to inform all people who have received the trojan *VERY QUICKLY*.
SL> **************************************************************************
SL> ********** "Why the hell not?!"-Anonymous
why? are you the author ? ^^^^^^^^^
Bye
Andreas
Poon-Keong (Edward) Ang
In article <52q2ha$f...@News.IDT.NET>, Zor...@mail.idt.net (Steven Landsman) says:
>
>someone sent me this ows program. it compresses 1500 bytes to 1
>problems:no directory structure maintained
>anyone know of NE-thing else like this, w/o probs.?
>"Why the hell not?!"-Anonymous
>
Try uncompress the file you have just compressed on another computer. I
am sure this program uses something similar to "Undelete" in MSDOS. If
the sector of the deleted files is not found, it won't work.
When something sounds too good to be true...
Sandro Mancini
On 3 Oct 1996 02:01:17 GMT, pka...@jetson.uh.edu (Poon-Keong (Edward)
Ang) wrote:
: Try uncompress the file you have just compressed on another computer. =
I
: am sure this program uses something similar to "Undelete" in MSDOS. If
: the sector of the deleted files is not found, it won't work.
: When something sounds too good to be true...
Exactely. I decoded the file, took a look at the DOC, and then erased
the whole thing. What tipped me off was the claim that a 400k ZIP file
would turn into a file taking less than 1k, thanks to their compression
program. Sure! (:
> Sandro Mancini < > manc...@ix.netcom.com <
> [Striker] < > http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/1233/index.html <
Smilin' Assassin
In article <52v6pd$k...@Masala.CC.UH.EDU>, pka...@jetson.uh.edu (Poon-Keong (Edward) Ang) wrote:
>Try uncompress the file you have just compressed on another computer. I
>am sure this program uses something similar to "Undelete" in MSDOS. If
>the sector of the deleted files is not found, it won't work.
>When something sounds too good to be true...
I tried doing this. Took 12Mb of Zip files unique to one machine in the
office, put the 38 byte OWS file on a floppy, put it onto another machine in
the office, and - hey presto - it worked! And the files unzipped, too!
Although I have hade similar problems to those mentioned elsewhere ...
Brian Damon
If your intent is to get others to try this hoax, you should
be ashamed of yourself. If you really think it works, please
compress a file uniquely created on one system. Take the compressed
file result to another system that is not linked to the original
system. You will then not be able to decompress it. If you do this
to a lot of files on systems "in your office", you may find yourself
looking for a new place of employment.
Brian
--
Disclaimer: Unless noted in the correspondence, all opinions
expressed are my personal opinions and should not be construed
as representing my employer, Lexmark International, Inc.
Smilin' Assassin
>If your intent is to get others to try this hoax, you should
>be ashamed of yourself. If you really think it works, please
>compress a file uniquely created on one system. Take the compressed
>file result to another system that is not linked to the original
>system. You will then not be able to decompress it. If you do this
>to a lot of files on systems "in your office", you may find yourself
>looking for a new place of employment.
>
>Brian
Without wanting to sound like I'm calling you stupid I DID PUT IT ON A
COMPLETELY UNCONNECTED COMPUTER - READ THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE!
I don't want to 'get others in on this hoax', and I would strongly council
that if anyone wished to experiment with any compression software of any
kind, that they should have secure back-ups first! If your current employer -
Lexmark - would make you 'look for a new place of employment' through doing
something like experimenting with a - possible - high compression
package, then I'd hate to - and should the chance ever come my way, would
refuse to - work for them!! By the way, my employer had full knowledge of
what I was doing, and was - as am I (if you read the original) - dubious!
To re-iterate (and expand) upon what I did:
I had 12 mb (or thereabouts) of .ZIP format files, created on MY COMPUTER.
These were run through the OWS program, and 'compressed' to around 38 bytes.
I then took this .OWS file - by floppy disk - and copied it onto another
computer in the office (a brand, shiny, new one - ready to go to a customer,
if you must know!), and successfully un-OWSed the file, and then unzipped the
ZIP files.
I have had problems with OWS which makes me not trust it at all, but this one
success has me wondering. I will not be using it until I can come up with
some more info., and we are in the process of hacking the code apart. If you
won't be to ashamed of me for doing that, Brian, then I'll post the results.
(Sorry - childish reaction, I know - but, hey, I'm a bit P.Od by your reaction
to my post!)