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Alright, I have a teacher that believes a virus can turn his computer on and off. He thinks it can "jump a diode" and turn it on. Without him ever going near it. Or hitting the button. Someone respond with something that will help him out a little bit - lengthy responses are appreciated.
LOL. the simple answer to this is that viruses are software. when you turn on the computer, you're interacting with it at a hardware level. One can write a program, however, to bring a computer out of standby, but they cant write one that physically turns on the computer. software cannot work without the underlying hardware. This is why people say that the safest computer is one that's turned off.
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Sounds to me like he has a network card that is set to Wake On LAN.
If its set to wake on LAN then when the PC is off and the network card sees trafic it will turn on the PC.
The setting can be changed in the BIOS.
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Ah, come on- let him enjoy his belief, it isn't hurting anyone (as long as he isn't teaching it in class, LOL). Kind of like telling a kid there's no Santa-- you wouldn't do that, would you?
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Did he actually say that it can "jump a diode" - or something that specific?
Or did he simply say that there are virus' out there that can turn a computer on and off?
If the latter, then he is right (via wake-on lan and possibly some other techniques).
Most modern computers when turned off are really not completely OFF (unless they are unpluged or the rocker switch on the power supply or surge protector is in the 0 position).
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I agree with Kev100 (re:Wake on Lan) but your teacher must have mistook this technology for a "virus." Regrettably the computer jargons gets all mixed up more frequent lately.
i_XpUser
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Actually, he teaches a T.V. Production class. Sad, isn't it?
What can I say? Why can't your school get someone better qualified in teaching computing?
i_XpUser
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Why stop at diodes. Wring out your capacitors daily and dry them out in a hot oven. Viruses thrive in moisture.
DerekW
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My guess is that the guy thinks a computer virus can refer to a very odd malfunction...rather than a necessarily a software program.
I'm further guessing that very occasionally those always-energized power switches that are on a lot of TV related equipment will become unstable and simply switch themselves on or off (due to the current leaking from an old/malfunctioning circuit somewhere).
The final guess in attempting to make some sort of logic out of the statement: he assumes that the same type of odd malfunction can happen on a computer power switch (which maybe it can)...and since he possibly mistakenly identifies such malfunctions as falling within the category of a "virus" then he is wrongly confident in making such a claim...
...basically, an embarrassingly incorrect statement resulting from multiple fallacious presuppositions (as this rambling post may very well illustrate).
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