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Text File | 1990-12-02 | 53KB | 1,398 lines

▀█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄ ▄▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀ ▀▄ ▀▄ ▄▀ ▄▀ ▄▀ ▀▄ ▀▄ ▄▀ ▄▀ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▀ ▀▄ ▀▄ ▄▀ ▄▀ ▄▀ ▀▄ ▀ ▄▀ ▄▀ ▀▄ ▄▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀ ▀▄ ▄▀ ▄▀ ▀▄▄▄▄▄█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▀ TM █ █ █ █▀▀▀▀▀█ █ █ █▀▀▀▀▀▀ ██ █ █ █ █ █ █ █▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▀█ ▄▀ ██ ██▀▀█▀▀ ██ █ ██ ▀▄▀ ██ ██ ▀▄ ██▄▄▄▄█ ▄▄▄▄▄██ █▀▀▀▀▀█ █▀▀▀▀▀▀ █▀▀▀▄ █ ▀▀▀█▀▀▀ █▀▀▀▀▀█ █▀▀▀▀█ █ █ █▄▄▄ █ █ █ █ █ █ █▄▄▄▄█▄ █ ██ █▄ ██ █ █ ██ ██▀▀█▀▀ █▄ █ ██ ██▄▄▄▄█ ██▄▄▄▄▄ ██ ▀▄█ ██ ██ ▀▄ ██ █ ██▄▄▄▄▄ Version 1.23 Copyright (C) 1990 by Alejandro L. Abello the High-flying Hard-lander SHARE-WARE NOTICE: Virus Central is distributed as share-ware. You are granted the limited license to use the program for a trial period (about three weeks) and are encouraged to share it with friends and associates, provided that copies are distributed in their complete and unmodified form, no amount is charged for the program (with the exception of a distribution fee not to exceed $5.00), and it is not distributed as part of a promotional package. Registration is required for continued use of Virus Central passed the trial period. The program and this manual are provided "AS IS" and without warranties as to performance of merchantibility and any other warranties expressed or implied. In the course of testing the program for compatibility and suitability to purpose, the user of must assume the entire risk of using Virus Central. The Virus Central program and manual are provided "AS IS" and without warranties as to performance of merchantibility and any other warranties, expressed or implied. In the course of testing the program for compatibility and suitability to purpose, the user must assume the entire risk of using Virus Central. While much care was made in the preparation of the Virus Central program and manual, the author shall assume no responsibility for defects in the program and/or errors or ommisions in the manual. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ================================================================ INTRODUCTION................................................ 1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS......................................... 2 INSTALLATION................................................ 2 USING VIRUS CENTRAL......................................... 3 Screen Lay Out........................................... 3 General Notes On Mouse Use............................... 4 Options From The Main Menu And User's Screen............. 4 THE VIRUS SCAN MENU......................................... 6 THE CLEAN UP MENU........................................... 9 THE SET UP MENU............................................. 11 THE PROGRAM SUB-MENU..................................... 11 THE VIRUS SCAN SUB-MENU.................................. 12 THE CLEAN UP SUB-MENU.................................... 12 THE VIRUS LIST SUB-MENU.................................. 13 SAVE OPTIONS............................................. 14 THE DOS SHELL OPTION........................................ 15 THE QUIT OPTION............................................. 15 THE CLEAN UP SEQUENCE....................................... 16 THE CONFIGURATION FILE...................................... 17 CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT................................ 17 The Set Up Information................................ 18 The Virus List........................................ 19 IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE......................................... 21 ================================================================ V I R U S C E N T R A L Version 1.23 Copyright (C) 1990 by Alejandro L. Abello the High-flying Hard-lander INTRODUCTION Virus Central is a shell program that simplifies the use of ViruScan and CleanUp, both from McAfee Associates. It provides a menu oriented environment that does away with the need to memorize command line parameters. It is ideally suited for locations that devote a computer to checking incoming diskettes for virus infections (i.e. the computer lab of a college). The user interface is graphical and works well with a mouse, although keyboard use is equally pleasant. As an added bonus, Virus Central has a built-in screen-saver that clears the screen after a specified amount of time to prevent screen image burn-in. The single most powerful feature of Virus Central is its Clean Up sequence. As a disk is scanned using ViruScan, infections detected are noted and placed in a queue. After the scan is completed, Virus Central executes CleanUp and passes the information stored in the queue to the program, effectively automating the process. This feature is invaluable for cleaning disks with multiple file infections. This manual has been prepared to familiarize you with Virus Central. Although already fairly easy to use, I suggest you take some time to go over this text to learn more about the program. I have tried to be as thorough as possible in order for users to fully benefit from Virus Central. A special note should be made that the samples of the menus in the text are not exact replicas of the menus that you will see on the screen; I had to make do with what was available from the text character set. I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. John McAfee, who reviewed and tested a preliminary copy of the program, and whose kind words convinced me of its potential. And all the guys 'n gals in the College of San Mateo's computer lab (Charlotte, Mike, John, Mark, Dave, Tonette, Robin, Stan, Steve, Yulin, and Andy), for pushing the project to a higher ground. THANK YOU, All! Alejandro L. Abello The High-flying Hard-lander Page 1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: To get the most from Virus Central, your system should have the following: * IBM AT or compatible - Virus Central will work fine on a 4.77 Mhz PC compatible, but it will be slow (as can be expected when graphics are used). It functions decently, though, on Turbo XT machines running at 10 Mhz. * 384k RAM (MINIMUM) - This is a theoretical minimum, although I have only tested Virus Central on machines with 512k and greater. * MS-DOS/PC-DOS 2.1 or later. * A hard disk drive - it may be possible to run Virus Central off of two floppy disk drives or even a RAM drive, but it was intended to run off of a hard disk. * A CGA compatible video adapter/display - Virus Central uses the 640 x 200 pixel, 2 color graphics mode, requiring a CGA compatible machine (most EGA and VGA cards are compatible). * A mouse (optional). INSTALLATION Virus Central requires 2 program files to operate, along with ViruScan and CleanUp. The files are: CENTRAL.EXE - The main Virus Central program CENTRAL.CFG - The configuration file for Virus Central To install, simply copy these two files to the same directory on your hard disk as ViruScan and CleanUp. Make sure that you have set the DOS "PATH" variable to that directory, so that you may execute the program from any other directory. Virus Central (or, simply, "Central") normally searches the path for the configuration file. The distribution copy of Central is configured for a machine that has three disk drives (A, B, and C), drives A and B designated as the "Quick-Key" disk drives, the ViruScan and CleanUp programs installed in the root directory of the hard disk ("C:\"), the Stoned / Marijuana virus specified as the default virus, and the list of viruses recognized by CleanUp 64. If you wish to make changes to this configuration, refer to the "Set Up Menu" discussion later in this text. Page 2 USING VIRUS CENTRAL To use Virus Central, simply enter "CENTRAL" at the DOS prompt. Central normally looks for a mouse driver, and, if a driver is installed, initializes the program's mouse handling routines. If your mouse driver is installed and you prefer to use Central without the mouse, enter "CENTRAL /NOMOUSE" instead. Virus Central normally does a pre-initialization system check to insure that the system is compatible with the program. If for some reason your system fails this check and you know that your machine is compatible, you can bypass it by specifying "/IGNORE" in the command line (i.e. "CENTRAL /IGNORE"). Note that you may specify both the "/NOMOUSE" and "/IGNORE" options, if so desired (i.e. "CENTRAL /NOMOUSE /IGNORE"). Screen Lay Out Assuming everything works alright, Central's user screen will appear. The main menu, located on the top row of the screen, presents you with 5 options: Virus Scan : allows you to modify the options of ViruScan and execute the program Clean Up : allows you to modify the options of CleanUp and execute the program Set Up : allows you to modify the configuration of Virus Central and save them to disk DOS Shell : loads up a copy of the DOS command processor Quit : terminates Virus Central and returns to DOS Aside from the above mentioned options, there is a small diamond character on the upper-left corner of the screen, used for manually invoking the screen-saver with a mouse. On the lower-right portion of the screen are four boxes, indicating the "Quick-Key" options; function keys [F1] to [F4] assigned to scan/clean user selected disk drives. On the upper-right portion of the screen is a small box containing the ID of the current virus (by default, this is "[STONED]"). This tells you which virus a Quick-Key clean will remove. On the lower-left, occupying a majority of the user's screen, is the ViruScan/CleanUp window, which I affectionately refer to as the "black box." Output from ViruScan and CleanUp, which normally goes to the text screen, is diverted to this window, so that you never have to leave the Central user's screen. This window has a text resolution of 80 x 22 characters; three lines had to be sacrificed to make the black box fit right on the screen, but this affects ViruScan and CleanUp minimally. Page 3 ================================================================ IMPORTANT! Because the main menu options "Virus Scan" and "Clean Up" are directly related to the "ViruScan" and "CleanUp" programs, respectively, it will be the notation of this manual to refer to "Virus Scan" and "Clean Up" (with spaces between the words) as the program options of Virus Central, and "ViruScan" and "CleanUp" (without spaces between the words) as the actual programs of McAfee Associates; the executable files "SCAN.EXE" and "CLEAN.EXE" ================================================================ General Notes On Mouse Use Most of the options in Virus Central are mouse selectable. To select an option with a mouse, position the mouse cursor (a black arrow) over the desired option and press any key on the mouse. This mouse selection process of positioning and pressing will, from here on, be refered to as "clicking," and any phrase that goes "click on..." or "clicking on..." will refer to this procedure. Some options, such as the Quick-Keys on the user's screen, are enclosed in little boxes. These options are mouse selectable by clicking anywhere inside the box. When entering a string, such as the overlay extension list in the Virus Scan menu, or a number, such as the color setting in the Program sub-menu, a mouse may be used to select the option, but cannot be used to position the cursor for editting or entering the string/number. Options From The Main Menu And User's Screen Options are easily selected using the keyboard or a mouse (if one is available). When an option is available, it is shown on the screen as bold characters. When an option is not available, it is "fuzzed" out, and attempts to select it will fail. There are three ways to select options from the main menu. You could use the left and right arrow keys to move the cursor over the desired option and press [Enter] to select it. A quicker way is to press the letter key corresponding to the underlined letter of the option (i.e. press [V] to select the Virus Scan option). The third method would be to click on it with the mouse. Note that the Virus Scan, Clean Up, and Set Up options produce their own menus, and even sub-menus. Function keys [F1] to [F4] are defined as Quick-Keys; [F1] and [F2] execute the ViruScan program, and [F3] and [F4] execute the CleanUp program. The parameters passed to the ViruScan and CleanUp programs are those set from the Virus Scan, Clean Up, or Page 4 Set Up menus. By default, disk drives A and B are designated as Quick-Key disk drives, where: [F1] executes ViruScan on the default directory of drive A, [F2] executes ViruScan on the default directory of drive B, [F3] executes CleanUp on the default directory of Drive A, and [F4] executes CleanUp on the default directory of drive B. The Quick-Key disk drive assignments may be changed from the Set Up menu's Program sub-menu. It is advisable to designate floppy disk drives as Quick-Key since floppy disks are the ones most often checked for infections. One of Virus Central's most attractive features is its built-in screen-saver. The screen-saver prevents Central's graphics screen from "burning into" your monitor by blanking your screen and displaying psychedelic, seemingly random graphics. Pressing any key or mouse button returns you to the program, at the point you left off. Normally, the screen-saver is automatically triggered by Central after a set number of minutes of "idle time" (3 minutes, by default). For our purposes, idle time is defined as a period wherein Central awaits keyboard or mouse input and is not executing any other task. From the user's screen, you can manually invoke the screen-saver by pressing the [B] key or by clicking on the diamond character on the upper-left corner of the screen. The number of minutes of idle time Central waits, the "time lapse," may be set from the Set Up menu's Program sub-menu. Page 5 THE VIRUS SCAN MENU Selecting the Virus Scan option from the main menu pops the Virus Scan menu. This menu allows you to set the parameters of the ViruScan program and execute it. Although you can execute ViruScan using the Quick-Keys, this menu allows you to scan a drive not designated as a Quick-Key drive. The Virus Scan menu has 17 fields that affect the execution of ViruScan and only two options; "Okay," which accepts any changes made and executes ViruScan, and "Cancel," which cancels any changes made and returns to the main menu. It looks something like this: ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────┐ │Disk Drive....................... : [-A-] │F10: Okay │ │Skip inside scan of LZEXE files.. : NO │Esc: Cancel│ │Overwrite & delete infected files : NO └───────────┤ │Scan memory for all viruses...... : NO │ │Scan all files................... : NO │ │Scan listed overlays............. : NO │ │Skip memory scan................. : NO │ │Scan multiple floppies........... : NO │ │Add validation codes............. : NO │ │Remove validation codes.......... : NO │ │Check validation codes........... : NO │ │Search for extinct viruses....... : NO │ │Generate scan report............. : NO │ │Attempt automatic Clean Up....... : NO │ │Overlay extension list........... : .OVL .OVG .OV1 .OV2 │ │Report file name................. : NUL │ │File path to scan................ : │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ All of these fields, with the exception of "Attempt automatic Clean Up," correspond to the command line parameters of the ViruScan program. To select a field, use the up and down arrow keys to position the cursor and press [Enter] to select it. You may also click on a field with the mouse to select it. The first field specifies the disk drive to scan. When this field is selected, you will be presented with a string of letters, indicating the available disk drives. Select a disk drive from the list by using the left and right arrow keys to position the cursor over the letter of the disk drive you wish to scan and press [Enter] (i.e. position the cursor over "B" if you wish to scan drive B:). A simpler way would be to press the letter key corresponding to the desired drive (i.e. press [B] to scan drive B:). Note that the string displayed on the screen is only five characters wide. The list of available disk drives may actually be longer; use the left and right arrow keys to scroll through the available disk drives. Central does not allow you to specify more than one drive letter at a time, although ViruScan can handle it. Page 6 The next 13 fields "toggle" the parameter options; you either want them when ViruScan executes (YES) or you do not want them (NO). When you position the cursor over these fields and press [Enter], or click on them with the mouse, the setting of the fields change from "NO" to "YES," and from "YES" to "NO." The first 12 of these fields correspond to the ViruScan command line parameters as follows: Skip inside scan of LZEXE files -> /NLZ Overwrite & delete infected files -> /D Scan memory for all viruses -> /M Scan all files -> /A Scan listed overlays -> /E Skip memory scan -> /NOMEM Scan multiple floppies -> /MANY Add validation codes -> /AV Remove validation codes -> /RV Check validation codes -> /CV Search for extinct viruses -> /X Generate scan report -> /REPORT The last toggle field, "Attempt automatic Clean Up," specifies whether or not Central will execute the Clean Up sequence right after the scan is completed, without prompting you to begin the sequence. Regardless of the setting here, Central will maintain a queue of detected infections. The next field is the overlay extension list. This is a string specifying the extensions of overlay files that scan will examine if the "/E" parameter is specified. The extensions should begin with a period, followed by the three character extension, and separated by spaces (i.e. ".OVR .OVG .OVL"). The maximum length of this string is 40 characters. The next field is the file name of the report file to be generated if ViruScan finds any viruses, and if the "/REPORT" parameter is specified. This can be any valid file path with a maximum length of 40 characters. By default, this is set to "NUL." The last field in the menu sets the file path that ViruScan will check. This is normally blank, in which case the entire disk is checked. But if you wish to localize the scan to a single directory, or even a single file, set this string to the file path you wish to scan. Do not specify the drive, since it is already specified in the first field of this menu. Page 7 Once you have all the parameters set, select the "Okay" option by pressing [F10] (or clicking on the "Okay" box) and Central will execute ViruScan with the set data. Note that the changes made to the fields will become the current settings and will remain active. If you change your mind and decide that you do not wish to execute ViruScan, select the "Cancel" option by pressing [Esc] (or clicking on the "Cancel" box) and Central will return to the main menu. Any changes made to the fields in the Virus Scan menu will be lost; all settings reverting to their previous states. Page 8 THE CLEAN UP MENU Selecting the Clean Up option from the main menu pops the Clean Up menu. This menu allows you to set the parameters of the Clean Up program and execute it. Although you can execute CleanUp using the Quick-Keys, this menu allows you to clean a drive not designated as a Quick-Key drive. The Clean Up menu has five fields that affect the execution of CleanUp and only two options; "Okay," which accepts any changes made and executes CleanUp, and "Cancel," which cancels any changes made and returns to the main menu. It looks something like this: ┌──────────────────────────────────┬───────────┐ │Disk Drive............. : [-A-] │F10: Okay │ │Check all files........ : NO │Esc: Cancel│ │Clean multiple floppies : NO └───────────┤ │Virus Name............. : Stoned / Marijuana │ │File path to clean..... : │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘ All of these fields correspond to the command line parameters of the CleanUp program. To select a field, use the up and down arrow keys to position the cursor and press [Enter] to select it. You may also click on a field with the mouse to select it. The first field specifies the disk drive to clean. When this field is selected, you will be presented with a string of letters, indicating the available disk drives. Select a disk drive from the list by using the left and right arrow keys to position the cursor over the letter of the disk drive you wish to clean and press [Enter] (i.e. position the cursor over "B" if you wish to clean drive B:). A simpler way would be to press the letter key corresponding to the desired drive (i.e. press [B] to clean drive B:). Note that the string displayed on the screen is only five characters wide. The list of available disk drives may actually be longer; use the left and right arrow keys to scroll through the available disk drives. Central does not allow you to specify more than one drive letter at a time, although CleanUp can handle it. The next two fields "toggle" the parameter options; you either want them when CleanUp executes (YES) or you do not want them (NO). When you position the cursor over these fields and press [Enter], or click on them with the mouse, the setting of the fields change from "NO" to "YES," and from "YES" to "NO." These two fields correspond to the CleanUp command line parameters as follows: Clean all files -> /A Clean multiple floppies -> /MANY Page 9 The next field is the name of the virus CleanUp will remove from the disk. Selecting this field pops a sub-menu, displaying a list of virus names from which you can select. Use the up and down arrow keys to position the cursor over the desired virus name and press [Enter]. You may also select a virus name by clicking on it with the mouse (click on the up and down arrows on the menu to scroll through the list). When you have selected a virus name, select the "Okay" option from the sub-menu, either by pressing [F10] or clicking on the "Okay" box, to make CleanUp remove this virus. If you change your mind, select the "Cancel" option from the sub-menu, either by pressing [Esc] or clicking on the "Cancel" box, and the virus name selected will be ignored. In either case, you will return to the Clean Up menu. The last field in the menu sets the file path that CleanUp will clean. This is normally blank, in which case the entire disk is checked for the infection. But if you wish to localize the process to a single directory, or even a single file, set this string to the file path you wish to clean. Do not specify the drive, since it is already specified in the first field of this menu. Once you have all the parameters set, select the "Okay" option by pressing [F10] (or clicking on the "Okay" box) and Central will execute CleanUp with the set data. Note that the changes made to the fields will become the current settings and will remain active. If you change your mind and decide that you do not wish to execute CleanUp, select the "Cancel" option by pressing [Esc] (or clicking on the "Cancel" box) and Central will return to the main menu. Any changes made to the fields in the Clean Up menu will be lost; all settings reverting to their previous states. Page 10 THE SET UP MENU The Set Up option from the main menu pops the Set Up menu. From here you can configure Virus Central to your computer and set the default parameters for ViruScan and CleanUp. If your computer does not conform to the default set up, this should be the first option from the main menu that you select before anything else. There are five options in this menu, the first four of which pop individual sub-menus. To select an option from this menu, use the up and down arrow keys to move the cursor over the desired option and press [Enter]. Alternatively, you can click on an option with the mouse. When you are done making changes, you can return to the main menu by pressing [Esc], or clicking anywhere outside the menu borders. THE PROGRAM SUB-MENU The Program sub-menu configures Virus Central to your computer. If your machine is configured differently from the default settings, be sure to make the necessary changes in this menu. The Program sub-menu has five fields that affect the execution of Virus Central and only two options; "Okay," which accepts any changes made, and "Cancel," which cancels any changes made. Either option returns you to the Set Up menu. The program sub-menu looks something like this: ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │Virus Scan / Clean Up directory path : C:\ │ │Disk drive list..................... : ABC │ │Quick-key Scan / Clean disk drives.. : AB ┌───────────┤ │Color setting....................... : 16 │F10: Okay │ │Screen saver time lapse (minutes)... : 3 │Esc: Cancel│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────┘ To select a field, use the up and down arrow keys to position the cursor. You may also click on a field with the mouse to select it. Unlike the fields in the Virus Scan and Clean Up menus, the fields in this sub-menu are all similar; they all contain editable data. For this reason, you do not have to press [Enter] to begin editing/entering data. In this sub-menu, the cursor is always in an "edit ready" position. The first field specifys the directory path to the ViruScan and CleanUp programs. For example, if these programs are in a directory called "VIRUS" in the C: drive, this field should be set to "C:\VIRUS\" When Central first executes, it checks this specified directory for the two programs. If it cannot find them there, it will search the other directories in the DOS PATH, which can take a little longer. It is a good idea to have the Page 11 ViruScan, CleanUp, and Virus Central programs all in the same directory, to make it easier for Central to locate the necessary program files. The next field is the disk drive list. This is a string that specifys the drive letters of all physical disk drives on your machine. For example, if your machine has four disk drives, labeled A:, B:, C:, and D:, the disk drive list should be "ABCD" This string can contain the capital letters "A" to "Z." Bear in mind that you should only specify "physical" disk drives. Do not specify network disk drives and RAM drives. The third field is the Quick-Key disk drive list. This is a two character string specifying which of the available disk drives will be assigned as Quick-Key disk drives. Choose any two from the disk drive list. If this field is blank, then no disk drive is assigned as a Quick-Key drive. If only one disk drive is specified, then only that drive is assigned as a Quick-Key drive. The next field sets the color of the display. This is a number from 0 and 16. On true CGA systems, the color setting affects the foreground color and leaves the background color always black. On most EGA and VGA systems, however, changing the color setting has funny results; the background and foreground colors change in, mostly, funny combinations. Normally, you are only allowed to use values from 0 to 15, but color setting 16 was provided to force a white-on-black screen. The last field sets the screen saver time lapse. This is the number of minutes of idle time Central waits before invoking the screen-saver. This is a number between 1 to 60. A safe setting is about three minutes. Setting the time lapse to zero (0) disables the screen saver. THE VIRUS SCAN SUB-MENU The Virus Scan sub-menu allows you to set the parameters for the Virus Scan option from the main menu. This sub-menu is the same as the Virus Scan menu, except that the "Disk drive" and "File path to scan" fields are disabled, and you cannot execute ViruScan from here. Refer to the "Virus Scan Menu" section on using this sub-menu. Selecting the "Okay" option accepts all changes made to the fields and makes them current, while selecting "Cancel" restores the fields to their previous settings. In either case, you will return to the Set Up menu. THE CLEAN UP SUB-MENU The Clean Up sub-menu allows you to set the parameters for the Clean Up option from the main menu. This sub-menu is the same as the Clean Up menu, except that the "Disk drive" and "File path Page 12 to clean" fields are disabled, and you cannot execute CleanUp from here. Refer to the "Clean Up Menu" section on using this sub-menu. Selecting the "Okay" option accepts all changes made to the fields and makes them current, while selecting "Cancel" restores the fields to their previous settings. In either case, you will return to the Set Up menu. THE VIRUS LIST SUB-MENU The Virus List sub-menu is a maintenance feature for updating and modifying the virus list used by the Clean Up menu. You can add, edit, or remove virus names and IDs from the list. It is a good idea to use this feature whenever new versions of the ViruScan and CleanUp programs are released, keeping the virus list up to date. The virus list can contain up to 300 virus names and IDs. Also, Central requires the first twenty virus names and IDs as the bare minimum, so you will not be able to edit or remove the first twenty viruses on the list. The Virus List sub-menu is the same one used in the Clean Up menu, except that it has three more options for adding, editing, and removing viruses from the list. It looks something like this: ┌──────────────────────────────┬─┬───────────┐ │Ashar ├─┤ │ │Disk Killer │ │F1 : Add │ │1701 / Cascade │ │F2 : Edit │ │Stoned / Marijuana │ │F3 : Remove│ │Ping Pong-B / Cascade Boot │ │F10: Okay │ │Ping Pong / Bouncing Dot │ │Esc: Cancel│ │Jerusalem-B ├─┤ │ └──────────────────────────────┴─┴───────────┘ To add a virus to the list, select the "Add" option (by pressing [F1] or clicking on the "Add" box) and you will be prompted to enter a new virus name and ID. When they are entered, select the "Okay" option (by pressing [F10] or clicking on the "Okay" box) to add the virus name and ID to the virus list. If you change your mind and decide that you do not want to add it to the list, select "Cancel" (by pressing [Esc] or clicking on the "Cancel" option). In either case, you will return to the Virus List sub-menu. To edit a virus name and/or ID on the list, use the up and down arrow keys to position the cursor over the name of the virus on the list (or click on it), then select the "Edit" option (by pressing [F2] or clicking on the "Edit" box). You will be prompted to edit the virus name and ID. When done, select the "Okay" option to update the virus name and ID. If you change your mind and decide that you do not want the name and ID changed, select "Cancel." In either case, you will return to the Virus List sub-menu. Page 13 To remove a virus name and ID from the list, use the up and down arrow keys to position the cursor over the name of the virus on the list (or click on it), then select the "Remove" option (by pressing [F3] or clicking on the "Remove" box). Select the "Okay" option to remove the virus from the list. If you change your mind, select the "Cancel" option. In either case, you will return to the Virus List sub-menu. When all changes are made, select "Okay" to make the changes to the virus list current. Selecting "Cancel" restores the virus list to its previous state. In either case, you will return to the Set Up menu. SAVE OPTIONS Selecting "Save Options" from the Set Up menu writes the current settings of Virus Central to the CENTRAL.CFG file, and these changes will also be in effect the next time you execute Central. If you have modified any of Central's settings and you do not save them using this option, you will be warned and given the opportunity to save them when you select the Quit option from the main menu. Page 14 THE DOS SHELL OPTION The DOS Shell option from the main menu loads up the DOS command processor. This returns you to the text screen where you may issue DOS commands and even run other programs. Virus Central remains resident in memory and, as such, limits the amount of memory available to you in the DOS shell. To return to Central, enter "EXIT." THE QUIT OPTION The Quit option terminates Virus Central and returns you to DOS. Page 15 THE CLEAN UP SEQUENCE Virus Central's most most powerful feature is the Clean Up sequence. As a disk is scanned using ViruScan, infections detected are noted and placed in a queue. After the scan is completed, Central executes CleanUp and passes the information stored in the queue to the program, effectively automating the process. This feature is invaluable for cleaning disks with multiple file infections. The queueing process is, for all intents and purposes, automatic; Central will always enqueue infections detected by ViruScan. There are points, though, that you should be aware of about the feature: * The queue can hold up to 300 individual infections. If there are more than 300 on the disk (that is one messed up disk!), ViruScan will continue to scan, but Central will ignore those passed the limit. * Central will always enqueue detected infections, even if ViruScan is executed with the "overwrite & delete infected files" option. * The Clean Up sequence works on individual files; that is, it executes CleanUp on each file where a virus was detected, even if the same virus was discovered on more than one file. * The Clean Up sequence executes CleanUp without the "check al files" and "clean multiple disks" options, even if they are set from the Clean Up menu. Also, the memory scan is disabled. * If ViruScan detects infections, and the "attempt automatic clean up" option is off, you are asked if you wish to initiate the Clean Up sequence. If you decide not to, the queue is not cleared. It will prompt you, again, if you wish to initiate the sequence when you attempt to scan or clean another disk. * The Clean Up sequence may be interrupted by pressing [Ctrl-C]. It may be restarted later on, but the virus name/ID being processed at the time of the interruption will be removed from the queue, whether or not CleanUp actually processed it. Page 16 THE CONFIGURATION FILE The Virus Central configuration file, CENTRAL.CFG, contains the set up information and virus names/IDs used by the program. When Central is executed, the program looks for the file in the current directory. If it cannot find it there, it searches for it in the directories specified in the DOS search path. If the file still cannot be found, Central assumes that it does not exist and creates a new one on the current directory, containing the minimal data required by the program to run. Although normally updated from the Set Up menu, CENTRAL.CFG is a plain-text ASCII file that can be editted by most text editors (e.g. the DOS supplied EDLIN.COM program). In fact, entering new virus names/IDs is much faster using a good text editor than by using the program option. Quite a few users of the program discovered attempted this before it was properly documented. As expected, funny things happened; they either messed up the file beyond restoration, and/or they did not achieve the desired results. For the benefit of those who wish to go this route, I will briefly explain the configuration file requirements. Although I strongly suggest that you only modify the file using the Set Up menu from the program, this section should help you out if you "accidentally" corrupt the file. Please bear in mind that the format of the configuration file is always subject to change. As newer versions of ViruScan and CleanUp are released, Virus Central is, likewise, updated to accomodate the new features. If you are upgrading to a new version of Central, always check the README.1ST file for the phrase "MODIFIED CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT," indicating if the configuration file format has been modified since the last release. CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT The configuration file is broken up into two parts; the first part consists of the set up information used by the program, and the second part is a listing of virus names/IDs. Any text on a line to the right of and including a semi-colon (;) is a comment, and is ignored by Central when reading the file. The comments appearing in the file are those inserted by Central. You may, if you wish, add your own comments or remove the ones here, but the Central installed comments will always be restored if you save a configuration from the Set Up menu. As a rule, Central places a comment either at the very beginning of a line (thus making that entire line ignored) or beginning at column 41 of the line. Remember that the information you set in the configuration file must fall under the same restrictions that apply when setting Page 17 them from the Set Up menu. Failure to do so was the cause of many problems among those who attempted to set parameters outside of legal boundaries. The Set Up Information The first part of the configuration file is the set up information. These affect the default settings for the program and the ViruScan and CleanUp programs. Each setting should reside on its own line; that is, you cannot string the settings one after another on a single line. For example, the line NO YES NO is not equivalent to NO YES NO The order in which settings appear is important, and the insertion of extra (non-comment) lines will cause problems. When setting toggle fields, you should use "YES" or "NO" on the line (case is unimportant). The first five lines affect the default settings of the program. From the Set Up menu, these are the fields appearing in the Program sub-menu. They are (default settings are enclosed in parentheses): Virus Scan/Clean Up directory path (C:\) Disk drive list (ABC) Quick key Scan/Clean disk drives (AB) Color setting (16) Screen saver time lapse (3) Be very careful when specifying directory paths; they should always end with a backslash (\). The next 12 lines affect the options of the Virus Scan program. From the Set Up menu, these are the fields appearing in the Virus Scan sub-menu. They are: Skip inside scan of LZEXE files (NO) Overwrite and delete infected files (NO) Scan memory for all viruses (NO) Scan all files (NO) Scan listed overlays (NO) Skip memory scan (NO) Scan multiple floppies (NO) Add validation codes (NO) Remove validation codes (NO) Check validation codes (NO) Page 18 Search for extinct viruses (NO) Generate scan report (NO) Attempt auto clean up (NO) Overlay extension list (.OVL .OVG .OV1 .OV2 .OVR .SYS .BIN .PIF) Report file name (NUL) The three following lines affect the options of the Clean Up program. From the Set Up menu, these are the fields in the Clean Up sub-menu. They are: Check all files (NO) Clean multiple floppies (NO) Default Clean Up ID number (15) The default Clean Up ID number corresponds to the "Virus Name" field in the Clean Up sub-menu. Instead of specifying the virus name in the configuration file, you should specify the number of the virus as it appears in the virus list. For example, the 4096 virus is first (1), the Alabama virus is second (2), the Dark Avenger virus is third (3), and so on. By default, this is set to the Stoned virus (15). For your convenience, Central adds sequential numbers as comments on the virus list, so you can see the order. The Virus List The remainder of the configuration file is the virus list; the virus names/IDs used by the program. The virus name and its ID appear on one line, separated by a comma (,). For example, the entry for the Stoned virus appears as Stoned / Marijuana, STONED By convention, I specify virus IDs in all capital letters, but case is unimportant. Also, you may specify the virus ID with or without brackets. For example, the above entry may also be specified as Stoned / Marijuana, [STONED] You may freely add or delete virus names and IDs to or from the list, but the first twenty entries must remain unmodified. As mentioned earlier, this part of the list is the minimum required by the program. The list of twenty required names and IDs, in case you have "accidentally" corrupted it, is : 4096, 4096 Alabama, ALABAMA Dark Avenger, DAV 1704 Format, 170X 1704 / Cascade-B, 170X 1704 / Cascade, 170X Yale / Alameda, ALAMEDA Page 19 Jerusalem-A / 1813, JERU Pakistani Brain, BRAIN Sunday Virus, SUNDAY New Jerusalem, JERU Ashar, BRAIN Disk Killer / Ogre, KILLER 1701 / Cascade, 170X Stoned / Marijuana, STONED Ping Pong-B / Cascade Boot, PING Ping Pong / Bouncing Dot, PING Jerusalem-B, JERU Suriv03 / Jerusalem-E, JERU 1260, 1260 As a matter of policy, I will always try to time the release of a new version of Virus Central to coincide with the releases of ViruScan and CleanUp, so the list will always be up to date. Page 20 IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE... That's about all there is to know about Virus Central. If a point was missed or something is unclear, whether about the program or registration, feel free to contact me at this address: Alejandro L. Abello 2937 Sherwood Drive San Carlos, CA. 94070 Tel. No.: (415) 369-1811 You may also contact me at the above telephone number. If I am not home, please leave a message and I will get back to you (provided I can call collect). Please ask for me by my name, "Alejandro" or "Jing" (my nickname), since I am the only one at home who knows anything about the program. Also, please call during reasonable hours of the day (9:00am to 5:00pm PST). Be forewarned that I will not entertain truly technical questions; the ones that may divulge precious trade secrets. The inner workings of Virus Central must be considered sacred. And, in fairness to me, unregistered users should not expect full product support, although I will greatly appreciate it if you bring to my attention features of the program that do not function properly or are improperly documented. HAVE FUN! Page 21