[Wylug-help] [Off-Topic] BIOS questions

[Dave Brotherstone]

On 13/03/06, Emon <contact_emon at gawab.com> wrote:
>
>
> Hi all
>
> 1)
> I once heard (from an unreliable source) that Intel & others are
> working on a open source alternative for BIOS, is it true?, if
> so, then how far have they progressed?
>
> 2)
> The AMI BIOS on my Motherboard has the option to enable "Boot
> sector virus checking", & as far as I know you cannot update the
> virus definition file for this virus guard. If so, then is there
> any point in keeping this virus guard enabled?, will it be able
> to detect new viruses?
>
> 3)
> I read (somewhere) that AGP cards also have a BIOS. Is there any
> way to upgrade this BIOS like the motherboard BIOS?
>
>
In answer to 2, boot sector virus checking at the BIOS level simply checks
for anything writing to the boot sector - the only times this is done is
when you're changing your boot loader (eg. grub, lilo, or windows' native
one), or when a virus is attaching itself to the bootsector, hence there is
no virus definition file, and it will always detect all viruses that attach
themselves in this way.

I'm not sure on 1 and 3, but 3 will depend on the card.  If there is a BIOS,
it will be up to the manufacturer as to whether it's upgradeable, and
whether they release updates. Why do you want to do this?

Dave.
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