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NoVirus
DEMO
Copyright 1988 1989
by
Nic Wilson Software
138d South Street
Toowoomba Queensland
Australia 4350
Phone (076) 358522 Work Hours
(076) 358539 After Hours
(076) 358522 Fax
ABOUT THE DEMO VERSION
This version is the same as the commercial version except that
many functions have been disabled. The program will still check
for bootblock and file viruses in both floppies and hard disks.
If you would like a full version then send $40.00 to us at the
address above.
This version may be distributed freely as long as this document
file accompanies it, and access to the document file is given
on the disk in the form of an entry in the menu or an icon under
workbench.
Dealer and Distributor enquries contact us at the above address
or phone number.
FINDING THE BRAINFILE
In order for NoVirus to load correctly, the BrainFile,
and optional 'prefs' file must reside in the L:
directory. If the brain is not found in the l: dirctory
then especially for the Megadisc demo version it will
look for it in each floppy drive, in a drawer called
'virus'. If not found in df0: dos will bring up a
requester asking for a disk in unit 0, either insert your
megadisc in df0: or if it is already in a drive other
than df0:, cancel each DOS requester in turn and
it will find the megadisc.
MAKING BACKUPS OF NoVirus
You can copy the NoVirus disk using your favourite copy program.
RUNNING NoVirus FROM A HARD DISK DRIVE
It is possible to run NoVirus from a hard drive. Copy the
NoVirus and NoVirus.brain files to the hard drive (NOTE:
The brain file MUST be in the L: directory.). NoVirus can be
executed from the hard drive using the same methods described in
the USAGE section of the manual.
C O N T E N T S
Copyright Notice i
Disclaimer ii
Acknowledgements iii
Features & Requirements iv
History of NoVirus v
What are computer viruses vi
Using NoVirus from CLI or Workbench 1
Checking disks for viruses 2
The Status Window 3
Using the NoVirus functions 4
System gadgets 5
Menu Items 7
Program Menu 7
Options Menu 7
Preferences Menu 10
What to do with unknown bootblocks Appendix I
References Appendix II
How to contact N.W.S. Appendix III
Index of NoVirus Functions Appendix IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
NoVirus is a trademark of Nic Wilson Software.
This manual was prepared using Word Perfect (A trademark of the
Word Perfect Corporation, Utah, U.S.A.) on an Amiga 1000
and 500.
Amiga and AmigaDOS are trademarks of Commodore-Amiga Inc.
Nic Wilson Software would like to extend their appreciation
to the following persons for their help in the production of
NoVirus V3.00 and documentation.
Debbie Wilson - Proof reading, punctuation and patience
Warren Weber - Thanx for the company during many hours coding
Donald Napper - For the great NoVirus icon (8 colour & animated)
John Rowe - For Artillery support in the war with Intuition
Andre Lapointe - Many suggestions & constructive critisism
Any questions, comments, or problems please refer to-
Nic Wilson Software
138D South St.
Toowoomba, Qld.
AUSTRALIA 4350
Phone- See top of this document
FEATURES OF NOVIRUS DEMO
* Full support for Hard Drives and RAD: drives.
* 100% Machine Code for the fastest speed & smallest code.
* Totally written and updated regularly in Australia.
* Widely known and respected program.
* BrainFile allows regular updating of NoVirus.
* BrainFile widely distributed around Australia.
* Saves & Restores boot blocks in case of virus attack.
* View disk boot blocks or memory in ASCII or HEX.
* Can Write a Scrolling 'Virus Free' message to bootblocks.
* Change & save screen colours to suit your taste.
* Change & save default drive.
* Onboard help option for quick reference.
* Can repair disks shown as 'NOT A DOS DISK'
* Can check multiple disks via easy Intuition interface.
* Can check single disk through 'startup-sequence'
REQUIREMENTS
Amiga 1000, 2000 or 500 with a minimum of 512k Ram.
1 - 4 floppy drives
PAL or NTSC
HISTORY OF NOVIRUS
Welcome to NoVirus DEMO. I hope you find this program useful in
keeping your valuable disk collection free from viruses.
NoVirus was written in Assembly Language using Devpac V2.14.
This assembler was an excellent program to use and made
writing NoVirus much easier.
NoVirus started back sometime in 1988, when the very first Amiga
virus reared its ugly head. At that time many virus killers
appeared on the public domain and at least one commercial version.
I found none of these programs suitable for checking multiple
disks quickly. All either had programming bugs or required too
many mouse or key presses between disk changes. NoVirus was born
from these needs. From the outset it was designed to be
fast & efficient. Since its conception I have had many
suggestions and reports on the program, and this has allowed it
to grow into the most powerful and regularly updated program in
Australia, if not the World.
For the past eighteen months the program has been widely
distributed at no cost to the user. As the virus problem on the
Amiga grew I found this program to be taking many hours
of dis-assembling and pondering over code, to keep NoVirus up
to date. I decided to release a new version of the program
commercially to help cover the cost of time and resources spent,
and to keep updates coming regularly.
NoVirus is the safest and most efficient way to check your disks
for viruses, and with regular updates will allow you to keep one
step ahead of the vandals of the computer age. To write a virus
is easy, but to write a machine code program like NoVirus is a
very difficult task. I get a great feeling from the comments and
praise from users regarding NoVirus. I will never understand what
the author of a virus gets from writing such. Obviously they are
not talented enough to write useful programs.
Nic Wilson
WHAT ARE COMPUTER VIRUSES & WHAT DO THEY DO?
A computer virus is a small program designed to hide away in
memory and remain there even through a re-boot and perform a wide
variety of tasks without the users' knowledge. They are normally
designed to attach themselves to a disk sector or a file so they
can spread from disk to disk, user to user, rapidly. Some viruses
perform their tasks immediately while others can remain static for
a period of time before becoming active.
Early viruses on the Amiga were not really destructive, although
they could render 'special loader' disks useless. This, I
believe, was more accidental than pre-meditated destruction. As
newer viruses emerge, they seem to be getting more and more
destructive and harder to remove from the computer without forcing
a reboot or a power down. Some recent ones are getting harder to
locate, as they encode themselves differently each time they write
to a disk. One particular virus attaches itself to files rather
than the boot block. These require much more time to locate as
the whole disk must be scanned.
Hopefully as time goes on, virus authors will get bored with
writing this type of program and use the time more usefully. But
I can guarantee that until that time, NoVirus will be there to
render assistance.
CHECKING DISKS
CHECKING MULTIPLE DISKS - Load NoVirus, either from
Workbench or CLI as explained in the USAGE section. The program
will default
to drive DF0: unless you have selected another drive using NoVirus
Preferences. Then, load the disks you wish to check into the
selected drive one at a time and take note of the Status Window.
Next to the words "Disk Status" you will see a message appear each
time you insert a new disk. This status line will tell you what
sort of bootblock is on a disk. If a virus is present on the disk
that the BrainFile recognises, it will inform you of the Virus and
give further instructions. You can use INSTALL, SCROLL or SYSNOT
to remove the virus from the bootblock.
CHECKING A SINGLE DISK - There are two ways of doing this.
From WorkBench, using the same method described above, NoVirus
will check the disk in the selected drive automatically.
The other method is from CLI. Using the syntax described in the
USAGE section NoVirus will check an individual disk in the drive
of your choice, and return a Status message to the current CLI
window informing the type of bootblock it has and if it found a
virus. It will also give you a Memory Status message telling you
whether NoVirus found any unusual or suspicious code residing in
memory.
THE STATUS WINDOW
The Status Window is used to communicate with the user. All
program information is displayed in this window. Thewindow is
sectioned into six parts. Each part is explained below:-
DISK STATUS - Displays information on the disk or
bootblock in the selected drive.
MEMORY STATUS - Displays the result of a check for
known or possible new virus code in
memory.
PROGRAM STATUS - Informs the user that the program
is ready to accept the next disk
or command.
ERROR STATUS - Displays the last error encountered.
VIRUSES FOUND - Counts the number of viruses found
in one checking session.
BRAIN FILE - Displays the version number of the
BrainFile being used.
USING NoVirus
From the CLI
USAGE NoVirus <switch> <drive>
<switch> n or N An optional switch for non-recursive checking
(eg. Use this switch in startup-sequences, or to check
a single disk only).
OR i or I An optional switch to start ICONIFYed.
It will start the program as a small window on the
dragbar. The program will remain there on 'stand-by'
until selected or closed. See ICONIFY in the Menu
section for more on this function.
NOTE: If the 'i' switch is used the <drive> parameter
is not used, as the program will default to recursive.
If used in a startup-sequence or batch file it
DOES NOT need RUN or RUNBACK as NoVirus spawns its own
process. This means that as soon as the program loads
it will return the command line, and will allow the
window it was launched from, to close, when an ENDCLI
command is given.
<drive> The Drive to be checked, eg. DF0: (for
non-recursive
only). Drive is only valid if you have used the n
switch. The Drive selected must be a valid Amiga drive
(ie. DF0: - DF3:).
If no switches are given then the program will load,
open a custom screen & window and default to recursive
mode. Drive choice in recursive mode is made from the
prefs file (see SavePrefs) or from inside the program,
so you don't supply the drive from the command line.
FROM WORKBENCH
NoVirus is activated from the workbench by simply
double-clicking on the NoVirus icon.
IMPORTANT NOTE
In order for NoVirus to load correctly, the BrainFile,
and optional 'prefs' file must reside in the L:
directory. If the brain is not found in the l:
dirctory
then especially for the Megadisc demo version it will
look for it in each floppy drive in a drawer called
'virus'. If not found in df0: dos will brin up a
requester asking for a disk in unit 0. Insert your
megadisc in df0: or if it is already in a drive other
than df0: than cancel each DOS requester in turn and
it will find the megadisc.
USING THE NoVirus FUNCTIONS
GADGETS
Drive Gadgets- Click on a drive gadget to select that drive.
You can change drive at any time by clicking on another drive gadget.
The selected drive shows an alternate image with a disk in and the
drive LED on. The selected drive is the focal point of all
functions of the program. All bootblock operations (multiple
checking for Viruses, saving bootblocks, etc.) use this drive.
Clicking on an already selected drive gadget will re-check the
disk in that drive.
When NoVirus is loaded it looks for a file, "L:novirus.prefs"
(See MENU FUNCTIONS - SavePrefs). If found, the program will
select the drive as specified in the 'prefs' file.
If not found, NoVirus will default to drive df0:.
BUTTONS - The button gadgets on the bottom of the screen
perform different functions. Each is explained below.
SCROLL - Not Available in the demo version
INSTALL - Writes a standard AmigaDos bootblock to the
selected drive. This is the same as installing a disk using the
'install' command in CLI.
NOTSYS- Not available in the demo version
SYSNOT- Not available in the demo version
GRAB- Not available in the demo version
RESTORE- Not available in the demo version
BOOTBLOCK - This gadget is a switch that shows you the
currently selected mode of NoVirus. Each click of this gadget
toggles the mode from bootblocks to files and vice-versa. These
two modes perform different functions as follows:-
BOOTBLOCKS - This mode forces NoVirus to test only
bootblocks for viruses. The program first checks for viruses that
are built in to the code itself. Next it checks for viruses known
by the BrainFile. If no known virus is found, it thenanalyses the
bootblock for possible new viruses. The Brainfile also knows many
safe bootblocks. If any of these are found they will be
identified. File Viruses are not checked in this mode. This mode
is fast, and allows you to check a batch of disks quickly.
FILES - This mode does a complete virus scan.
It first scans the disk directory and then tests each file in every
directory on the disk for viruses known by the Brain. A file virus
must be known by the Brain. It does not do any analysis of the
file. To do this would take far too long even for a machine code
program such as NoVirus. Once this is complete it then checks the
bootblock the same as in the above mode. The time taken to perform
this function depends solely on the number of files and directories
on a given disk. So you have an idea on how long it will take, the
program will count the files while scanning and display this in the
status window, it will then decrement this will checking the files.
SYSTEM GADGETS
The system gadgets can be found at the top left and top right side
of the screen. They perform different functions as follows:-
CLOSEGADGET - The closegadget is located at the extreme top
left of the screen. Clicking this gadget, opens a small window
and prompts you to choose between exiting or ICONIFYing the
program. ICONIFYing is explained on page 8.
BACKGADGET - The backgadget pushes the NoVirus screen to the
back. This gadget is not handled by intuition, so if any other
function is currently being used within NoVirus, the action will
not be performed until you finish the current function. This
problem can be overcome by using Left Amiga N and Left Amiga M
instead of the back/front gadgets accordingly.
FRONTGADGET - The frontgadget performs the exact opposite
function to the backgadget.
MENU ITEMS
PROGRAM MENU
HELP - Gives a help screen describing the NoVirus functions
in brief.
CREDITS - This option displays information on the program
(version number, etc.) and also the author's credits. We have
also included an address that you can send potential new Viruses
and unknown bootblocks to be checked.
VIRUSES - This gives a complete list of the Viruses known by
the particular version of the brain file that NoVirus is using. It
is updated by the brain file when loaded.
AUTO_NEWCLI - Not available in the demo version
QUIT - This gives you an option to exit or ICONIFY the
program.
QUIT & DIE - Not available in the demo version
OPTIONS MENU
DOSENABLE - Not available in the demo version
ICONIFY - Not available in the demo version
ANALYSE - Not available in the demo version
REPAIR - Not available in the demo version
VIEWBOOT - Not available in the demo version
FIXBOOT - Not available in the demo version
NOBOOT - Not available in the demo version
VIEWMEM - Not available in the demo version
VIEWVECS - Not available in the demo version
CHECKMEM - Not available in the demo version
PREFERENCES
PALETTE - Not available in the demo version
STARTDRIVE - Not available in the demo version
SAVEPREFS - Not available in the demo version
WHAT TO DO WITH AN UNKNOWN BOOTBLOCK
An unknown bootblock contains code that is not recognised by the
NoVirus DEMO BrainFile. The difficult thing to determine when
NoVirus discovers code that it does not recognize, is whether it
is a safe bootblock or a possible new virus.
The safest way to tackle a disk with an unknown bootblock is to
write protect the disk then boot it. Then watch and listen to
how the disk loads and sounds.
Bootblocks normally work in one of several ways. A disk with a
standard bootblock will show an AmigaDOS window after a few
seconds. Boot a standard Workbench that NoVirus shows as 'DISK
CLEAN' to see this in action. An unknown bootblock that opens
this AmigaDOS window, and seems to boot like a standard disk is
definitely suspect and requires looking into.
Other 'Special' bootblocks will show different results. Some
disks have a special menu function encoded in the bootblock to
select a particular program on that disk. Do not confuse these
with menus programmed in a disk file. A menu bootblock will
appear instantly at boot (this first short disk access after
inserting the disk into the drive at the 'WorkBench hand').
Other types of bootblocks are mainly coded by hackers and show
graphics and or scrolling text, these will also show almost
immediately. Chances are that these will be virus free and safe
to use.
Some commercial software uses the bootblock to 'Fast Load' games.
These bootblocks can be readily recognised, as the AmigaDOS
window will never show and the program will load immediately.
These can also be recognised in another way, fast loaders or
trackdisk.device loaders step the disk drive head in a rhythmic
or repetitive pattern and also step rapidly. These types of
bootblocks are probably safe (normal AmigaDOS bootblocks have a
very arhythmic sound, boot a normal disk and listen to the sound
of the disk drive).
If you are ever unsure about any disk or bootblock, please send a
copy of the disk to us at Nic Wilson Software, and we will
examine it for you. All disks will be returned with the latest
version of the NoVirus BrainFile. We suggest that your copy of
the program remain unused until your disk is returned. The
latest version of the Brainfile on your returned disk will either
recognize the disk as a virus, a safe bootblock or still unknown.
If it is still seen as unknown, you can be assured that it is
quite safe to use.
NOTE RETURN POSTAGE MUST BE SENT OR WE CANNOT SEND YOUR DISK BACK.
END OF NOVIRUS.DOC