There has been some confusion about the Bantam Book's "DOS
Power Tools" diskettes, and the recent Wayne State newsletter
advising purchasers of the book not to use the diskettes has
obviously concerned the editors at Bantam - and the warning is
unwarranted.  
	I was originally contacted by Robert Dimsdale of the NSA in
April of this year, reporting an unusual virus.  He reported that
he 'believed' the infection came into the shop through the Bantam
book.  Subsequent reports from two separate organizations also
indicated the 'possibility' of infection from the book.  The
reports were placed on the HomeBase board as routine notes for the
HomeBase researchers tracing down the Missouri virus.  I contacted
Bantam Books to report the possible occurrences, and their research
at that time indicated that the reported infections were caused by
agents other than the book.  I concurred.  The original Dimsdale
diskette was destroyed before it could be analyzed, and the hard
disk was low level reformatted.  Both other reports yielded no
analyzable sample. 
	I have spoken twice with Steve Guty of Bantam today, and he
tells me that Bantam has sold over 200,000 copies of the book and
accompanying diskette.  With this number of copies in circulation,
it is entirely reasonable to expect multiple occurrences of pre-
existing infection in a system which activate on or about the time
that the Power Tools diskette is installed.  The user might then
equate the virus activation with installation of the diskette, even
though the virus may have been in the system for weeks or months
prior to the installation of the Power Tools diskette.  This
happens hundreds of times each month with other software packages. 
Rarely, in these cases, has the virus involved actually been
introduced with the diskette that was suspected by the system user.
	Given the wide circulation of the Bantam book, it is highly
unlikely that it could contain a virus without overwhelming numbers
of infection occurrences being reported.  Also, sample copies of
the book purchased around the country by researchers have shown no
indication of infection.   The Wayne State newsletter
recommendation, in my opinion, should be ignored.  The Bantam Book
software appears as safe as any vendor supplied software.