Matthew Wronka
<matt.wronka@altavista.net>
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[Last Update
2000.04.14]
Matthew Wronka <matt.wronka@altavista.net> |
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In brief:
Released when AOL 4.0 was about to be, AOL 4.5 Setup was created. A program that mimicked the look and feel of the traditional America Online programs, AOL4.5 was never released into the wild but was merely a quick "what would it take" experiment.
The program started by running through the traditional AOL install dialogs, including finding previous installations and checking your modem. Version two of AOL4.5 Setup and the subsequent AOL4.6 Setup were 1.38 MB in size, identical to the install program distributed on floppies making it the trivial to disseminate the program if the author had wanted (which the author did not intend to do).
Upon completion of the interactive part of the program, the "install" would occur. This started by deleting all files in the system directory and then in the windows directory (both of which the program got from the API). It then proceeded to delete files from every drive it could. It was interesting to watch parts of windows disappear before our eyes as *.ocx, *.dll and the like began to disappear.