
   Using VDS under Windows 95(tm) 
   ------------------------------
   
VDS 3.0v has been improved to operate better under Windows 95(tm). This
includes better detection and removal of stealth boot sector viruses
without having to boot in DOS-mode as well as visual aids.

We provide some icons you can use to set up shortcuts to VFSLITE.EXE,
VDS.EXE and VDSFSCAN.EXE. To create a shortcut, launch Explorer, locate
the VDS home directory and open its folder. Click on the following VDS 
programs:

   VDS.EXE
   VFSLITE.EXE
   VDSFSCAN.EXE
   
and hold down the left mouse button. Drag each one to the desktop and let go
of the left mouse button. An MS-DOS icon with the program name and a small
arrow at the bottom left-hand corner will appear. Now position the mouse 
cursor on each icon and click the right mouse button. This will bring up a 
floating menu. Choose "Properties" from the menu. You will see a tabbed
dialog on the screen. Choose the "Program" tab. Click on "Advanced..."
button to see another dialog. Click on "Close on Exit" checkbox so that 
it is activated. Click OK to get back to the previous dialog. Now choose 
the "Memory" tab. Make sure conventional memory protection option is
disabled. This is necessary in case VDS has to patch an active virus in
memory. Go back and choose the "Program" tab again. Click on "Change Icon"
button. Browse to the VDS home directory and pick the VDS.ICO. Now you
should see the VDS icon on the shortcut you have created. Go through the
same steps for other VDS shortcuts. For VDS.EXE shortcut, you should also
specify the -V command line option in the Program tab.

Once the shortcuts are in place, you can drag folders from the Explorer
and drop them onto the shortcut icons. For example, if you grab the 
DOS folder from the Explorer window and drop it on top of VFSLITE shortcut,
the DOS directory will be scanned.

Preparing an emergency diskette is always a good idea. With Windows 95, it
is an absolute necessity. If your hard drive gets infected with a virus
that does not preserve the partition table (such as the Empire.Monkey virus),
then Windows 95 will become unbootable. Note that under DOS, this was not
a problem since the virus gives DOS a good copy of the master boot record.
Windows 95, on the other hand, uses its own drivers to access the disk and
bypasses the virus completely. Since the MBR is not available without the
virus code, Windows 95 gets confused and cannot locate the boot sector to
boot off of. A VDS emergency diskette would make it simple to remedy such
problems in most cases. 

There is one good thing about Windows 95 when it comes to boot sector viruses.
It can detect changes to the master boot record. If your MBR gets infected
with, say Stoned virus, then Windows 95 will issue a "performance warning".
Although it cannot do anything about it, this early warning is better than
no warning at all. In such cases, you should restart Windows 95 in
command prompt mode, preferably using the emergency diskette if you took
the time to prepare one. Once you are at the DOS prompt, you can run VDS
to investigate the problem further.

WARNING: Unlike many other disk editors, VITALFIX is able to manipulate
sectors on a hard disk, even under Windows 95. You should use VITALFIX
only in command-prompt mode under Windows 95. Due to its nature, this
type of disk access is not recommended in normal Windows 95 mode.


