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VirusX
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1988-08-14
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-
VirusX
-
by Steve Tibbett
- The Complete Virus Removal System! -
VirusX - Fourth in a growing line of "X-Utilities".
V1.01 Note: 1.01 is just 1.0 with a bug fixed. Also
cleaned up the source a tad (one less Goto).
V1.2 Note: 1.2 is the same as 1.01 but also adds
detection of the Byte Bandit virus both in RAM and
on Disk.
V1.21 Note: 1.21 is just 1.2 cleaned up a little bit,
V1.2 shouldn't have been released the way it was (Just
one printf where it shouldn't have been).
-> READ V1.2 Byte Bandit Virus notes at the <-
-> end of this file! <-
The SCA Virus is something that's been following us around
for a couple of months now, and I think it's about time
we got rid of it for good.
There are a number of CLI-based Virus Checkers out there,
which do their job just fine, but if you're not into
using CLI, what do you do? You use VirusX!
Please, I encourage you to give this program to anybody
who might have the virus. Including your local dealer -
some of the dealers in this area have the virus all over
their disks, which they allow customers to copy, and
they don't do anything about it because they don't know
how. VirusX makes it extremely simple.
You can put VirusX in your Startup-Sequence. When run,
it will open a small window so you know it's there (and
it will display the occasional message in it). Whenever
a disk is inserted into any of the 3.5" drives, that disk
is automagically checked for the SCA virus, and also
checked to see if it's boot sector is "Standard". If
the disk has a nonstandard boot sector, it is either
a new form of virus which I don't know about yet, or it
is a commercial program which uses the boot block for
something constructive (like booting their game).
If VirusX finds a boot block it is suspicious about, it
will present the user with a requester either warning
him that the disk has the SCA virus, or telling him that
the boot code is nonstandard. In either case, he is
given the option to either ignore it, or to Remove it.
If the user selects Remove, after he says he's SURE he
wants to rewrite the disk's boot sector (Remember: Never
rewrite the boot sector of a commercial program unless
you KNOW that program doesn't use it for something
else. If the program gives you the AmigaDOS window before
running, you know it is safe to repair that disk.).
The boot code written back to the disk by VirusX is the
same boot code that the AmigaDOS INSTALL command (and
it's compatible counterpart on one of the fish disks)
uses.
If you run across a strain of the virus, or any other virus
that VirusX doesn't specifically warn of, PLEASE send
me a copy of a disk with that virus on it! I want to
keep VirusX current, and to do so, I need the viruses.
I have heard tell of two other viruses besides SCA, but
I don't know much about them - yet.
Of course, there are those of you who are thinking that
I am some nut case trying to spread my own virus hidden
under the guise of a virus checker. Well, just for you,
I've included the C source code. Please, if you don't
trust me, don't discard a useful utility as untrustworthy
for no reason, CHECK THE SOURCE! Recompile it if you
think I'm trying to slip a fast one on you. I just
want to see the virus out of all of our lives.
I want feedback on this! Send me a letter!
This program is Copyrighted, but is freely redistributable
(It's NOT Shareware). Do what you want with it, but
Please don't use it for evil purposes. That's what I'm
trying to prevent.
My address:
Steve Tibbett
2710 Saratoga Pl. #1108
Gloucester, Ontario
K1T 1Z2
My BBS: OMX BBS, 613-731-3419.
One final note: If you click in VirusX's window, the screen's
title bar will show information on how many disks VirusX has
looked at, and how many it has found the virus on.
---------------------------------------------------------------
VirusX 1.2 Notes:
The old -C option on the command line is gone. VirusX will
automatically check ALL drives for Virii as soon as the
program is run.
- When VirusX finds and removes the Byte Bandit Virus in RAM
on a German A2000, the machine will sometimes crash. I
don't know why this happens, but it works perfectly on the
B2000 and the 500 and 1000...
BYTE BANDIT VIRUS:
The Byte Bandit virus is the main reason for this release of
VirusX. What the Byte Bandit virus does is once it's in
memory, it copies itself to just above the high memory
pointer on the first hunk of RAM it can find (Which means
it's not always in the same place), wedges itself into the
Interrupt Server chain, into the Trackdisk.device's vectors,
and creates itself a Resident structure so it can hang
around after reboot.
It watches EVERY disk inserted, and will write itself to ANY
bootable disk that is inserted! This one can spread like
wildfire - every disk you insert into your external drive during
a session with this Virus loaded will result in all those disks
being infected. Ouch.
Also, if you Install a disk while this virus is going, it will
just copy itself back to the disk - which is why I had to wipe
it from memory in VirusX 1.2...
When VirusX finds this virus on a disk, it will also display a
"Copy Count" which is the number of disks that have been
infected by that "Branch" on the "Tree" that the virus is on -
If you infect a disk with your copy, and your copy is number
300, then that copy will be #301. If he infects somebody,
that will be #302, but on YOUR copy, two infectations down
the line, there will be another #302... Anyways, the copy count
on MY Byte Bandit virus is #879...
Note that VirusX will check RAM for this virus as well as
the disk. This was necessary as you can tell from the description
above.
Special thanks must go here to Dave Hewett, who, 2 days after I
gave him a copy of the virus, gave me a printed, commented
disassembly of the virus with meaningful labels and everything
I needed to stomp it - Thanks Dave!
Thanks must also go to Bruce Dawson of CygnusSoft Software, who
went to the trouble of being the First person to send me this
Virus. (As of yet, he's also the ONLY person - Geez, folks, I
need YOUR help to do this too, eh?)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Once again, I KNOW there is another virus out there. Please,
if you have it, send it to me!
...Steve