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- TBSCAN.HLP This file will be displayed if using the -help option of TbScan.
-
- This help is very comprehensive and does NOT replace the documentation!
-
- Program invokation:
-
- TBSCAN [@][<path>][<filename>]... [<options>]...
-
- Example:
- TBSCAN C:\ D:\
-
- When no filename has been specified but only a drive and/or path,
- then the specified path will be used as top-level path.All its
- subdirectories will be processed too.
-
- When a filename has been specified then only the specified path
- will be searched. Subdirectories will not be processed.
-
- Wildcards in the filename are allowed although only executable
- files will be processed. If you want the non-executables to be
- processed too, then you have to specify the "-analyze" parameter in
- combination with the filename. "TBSCAN TEST.DAT" will always cause
- that no file will be processed: TEST.DAT is not an executable file.
- In this case you have to specify the -analyze parameter.
-
- You can also specify a list file to TbScan. A list file is
- a file that contains a list of paths/filenames to be scanned.
- Preceed the file with the character '@' on the TbScan command line:
- TBSCAN @TBSCAN.LST
-
-
- Command line and environment options:
-
- -help,-h=help (-? = short help)
- -info,-i=display disassembly information
- -quick,-q=quick scan
- -more,-m=enable "More" prompt
- -mutant,-y=enable fuzzy search
- -direct,-d=direct calls into DOS/BIOS
- -analyze, -a=force analyze/all files
- -extract, +a=extract signature
- -valid,-u=force authorization
- -once,-o=only once a day
- -compat,-c=maximum-compatibility mode
- -nosnow,-t=avoid snow on CGA monitors
- -noboot,-s=skip bootsector
- -sector,+s=scan all disk sectors
- -nomem,-r=don't scan memory
- -allmem,+r=scan for all viruses in memory
- -hma,+e=scan HMA too
- -nohmem,-e=don't scan UMB/HMA
- -nosub,-n=don't scan in sub directories
- -sub,+n=process sub directories
- -noavr,-j=do not search for AVR modules
- -del[ete] -z=delete infected files
- -batch,-b=don't ask keyboard input
- -repeat,-x=scan multiple diskettes
- -loginfo, -w=log files with a lowercase warning too
- -logall,+w=log all files unconditionally
- -log[<filename>],+l [<filename>]=append to log file
- -session[<filename>],-l [<filename>]=create session log file
- -data<filename>-f <filename>=data file to be used
- -ren[ame] [<ext mask>],+z [<ext mask>]=rename infected files
-
-
- -info
-
- If you are an experienced user we recommend you to use this option.
- If you do so, TbScan will display the most important warnings
- with the complete pathname of the concerned file in the upper
- window.
-
- -quick
-
- This option enables you to quickly scan the system. It is recommended
- to invoke TbScan once a day without this option because this option
- does not offer you the highest security. .OVL files and .SYS files
- are skipped entirely since it is not likely that these files are
- infected, memory scan is skipped, the scan frame is reduced to
- 2Kb instead of 4Kb, and TbScan does not fall back to the analyze
- routine as often as usual. However, TbScan still detects 95% of the
- viruses if this option is specified.
-
- -more
-
- When you enter the parameter -more TbScan will stop after it has
- checked the contents of one display.
-
- -mutant
-
- If you use the -mutant option TbScan does not restrict itself to the
- wildcard specification, but allows up to two extra changes anywhere
- in the signature. False alarms may occur. Therefore this option is
- not recommended to be used in a normal scan session. However, you
- can use this option if you expect the system is infected but TbScan
- does not detect a virus. If you scan again and specify the -mutant
- option, and TbScan now reports many files to be "possibly infected"
- with one virus, it might be possible that the files are infected by
- an unknown variant of the virus.
-
- -direct
-
- If you specify this option TbScan tries to determine the address
- of the harddisk BIOS and the DOS kernel and uses that to communicate
- directly with the system. Many stealth type viruses will be bypassed
- by this. Note that also resident software (like networks) will be
- bypassed and it depends on the system whether this option can be
- used or not.
-
- -analyze
-
- Normally TbScan only uses the analysis method when the program to
- be checked is too complicated for the builtin interpreter.But
- through option -analyze you can force TbScan to use the analysis
- or browse method allways. Keep in mind though that the program will
- perform more slowly and that false alarms may occur. Therefore it
- is recommended to refrain from this option while performing a
- normal scan session. Since this option also disables the internal
- disassembler of TbScan, most warning marks will not occur, and
- the AVR modules will not be executed.
-
- If you use the -analyze option in combination with an explicite
- filename specification, TbScan scans ALL matching files for ALL
- signatures. Needless to say that this combination is NOT
- recommended due to its low performance and exessive amount of
- false alarms.It is only provided to gain some compatibility with
- other scanners.
-
- -extract
-
- This option is available for registered users only. See chapter
- "defining a signature" of the user manual for usage of this option.
-
- -valid
-
- TbScan checks the signature file for modifications.If you change
- the contents of that file TbScan will issue a warning.If you
- don't want the warning to be displayed, use the -valid option.
-
- -once
-
- If you specify this option TbScan "remembers" that is has been used
- that day, and it will not run anymore a next time on that day if
- you specify this option again. This option is very powerfull if you
- use it in your autoexec.bat file in combination with a list file
- like:TbScan @everyday.lst -once -rename
-
- -compat
-
- If you specify this option, TbScan tries to behave somewhat more
- compatible. Use this option if the program does not behave as
- expected or hangs the machine. This option will slow down the scan
- process so it should only be used when necessary. Note that the
- -compat option does not affect the results of a scan.
-
- -nosnow
-
- If you use TbScan on a machine with a CGA video system TbScan
- can cause "snow" on the screen. Option -nosnow can be used to
- eliminate the snow.
-
- -noboot
-
- If you specify this option TbScan will not scan the bootsector.
-
- -sector
-
- This option is experimental.This option enables the feature to
- scan a disk at sector level.This way you can trace viruses that
- reside outside the files and bootsector and difficult stealth
- viruses. This option might also tell you that a virus ever
- resided on the machine in the past.If this option detects a
- signature it does not mean that the virus should be still active.
- Even if TbScan deleted the virus this option is still able to detect
- the signature for a while.This option is absolutely NOT
- recommended for a normal search. Note that TbScan is not able to
- detect suspicious facts anymore; it can not disassemble files with
- this mode. False alarms may occur frequently since everything is
- being searched for, and search is even performed in unused disk
- space containing garbage.
-
- -nomem
-
- If you specify this option TbScan will not scan the memory of the
- PC for viruses.
-
- -allmem
-
- If you specify this option TbScan will search for all viruses of
- the signature file in the memory of your PC, regardless of the
- virus type. This option is not recommended since the signature of
- most viruses changes when the virus is resident in memory and the
- virus will not be found by the file type signature. It may cause a
- lot of false alarms and does not detect more viruses. It is provided
- to maintain some compatibility with other scanners.
-
- -hma
-
- Use this option if TbScan does not recognize your HMA driver.
-
- -nohmem
-
- Use this option if you don't want TbScan to scan upper memory.
-
- -nosub
-
- TbScan will default search in subdirectories for executable files,
- except when a filename (or wildcards) are specified.If you use
- this option TbScan will never search in subdirectories.
-
- -sub
-
- If you use this option TbScan will always search in subdirectories,
- even when you specify a filename or wildcards.Only subdirectories
- matching the filename mask will be scanned too.
-
- -noavr
-
- If you specify this option TbScan will not search for AVR modules
- (Algorithmic Virus Recognition modules; .AVR files) at startup and
- will not perform any algorithmic searches.
-
- -delete or -del
-
- If TbScan detects a virus in a file it prompts the user to delete
- or rename the infected file, or to continue.If you specify the
- -delete option, TbScan will not ask the user what to do but it just
- deletes the infected file.Use this option only if you already
- found out that your system is infected, and if you have a trusted
- backup, and want to get rid of all infected files at once.
-
- -batch
-
- If TbScan detects a file virus it prompts the user to delete or
- rename the infected file, or to continue. If you specify the -batch
- option TbScan will always continue. This option is intended to be
- used in a batch file that would be executed unattended. It is
- highly recommended to use a log file in this situation.
-
- -repeat
-
- The option is very powerfull if you want to check a large amount of
- diskettes. TbScan does not return to DOS after checking a disk, but
- it waits until you insert another disk in the drive.
-
- -log
-
- When you use this parameter, TbScan creates a LOG-file.The
- default filename is TBSCAN.LOG and it will be created in the current
- directory.You may optionally specify a path and filename. If the
- log file already exists the information will not be overwritten but
- instead appended to the file. If you use this option often it is
- recommended to delete or truncate the log file every month to avoid
- unlimited growth.
-
- -session
-
- This option is the same as the -log option, except that if there
- already exists a log file the log information will be overwritten
- instead of appended. A log file created by the -session option only
- contains information of a single scanning session.
-
- -loginfo
-
- If you use a log file and wants to log files with lowercase
- (informative) warnings too you should specify this option.
-
- -logall
-
- If you use a log file and wants to get all files listed in the log
- file unconditionally you can use this option.
-
- -data
-
- You can override the default path en name of the signature file to
- be used by specifying this option.
-
- -rename or -ren
-
- If TbScan detects a file virus it prompts the user to delete
- or rename the infected file, or to continue.If you specify the
- -rename option, TbScan will not ask the user what to do but it just
- renames the infected file. By default, the first character of the
- file's extension will be replace by the character "V". You can also
- add a parameter to this option specifying the target extension.The
- parameter should always contain 3 characters, question marks are
- allowed.The default target extension is "V??".
-
-
- The warning marks.
-
- 'R'Suspicious relocator.
-
- The character 'R' warns for a suspicious relocator. A relocator is
- a sequence of instructions that change the proportion of CS:IP. It
- is often used by viruses, especially COM type infectors. Those
- viruses have to relocate the CS:IP proportion because they are
- compiled for a specific location in the executable file, and a
- virus that infects another program can almost never use its
- original location in the file (it is appended to the file). Normal
- programs "know" their location in the executable file, so they
- don't have to relocate themselves. On normal systems only a few
- percent of the programs should cause this warning to be displayed.
- Tests on a large collection of viruses shows that TbScan issues
- this warning for about 65% of all viruses. TbScan uses the "analyze"
- or "browse" algorithm on programs which contain a suspicious
- relocator.
-
- 'T'Invalid timestamp.
-
- The timestamp of the program is invalid. The seconds of the
- timestamp are illegal, or the date is illegal or later than the
- year 2000. This is suspicious because many viruses set the
- timestamp to an illegal value (like 62 seconds) to mark that they
- already infected the file, preventing themselves to infect a file
- for a second time.
-
- '!'Branch out of code.
-
- The program has an entry point that is located outside the file's
- body, or a chain of "jumps" traced to a location outside the
- program file. The program being checked is probably damaged, and
- can not be executed.
-
- '#'Decryptor code found.
-
- The file possibly contains a self-decryption routine. Some
- copy-protected software is encrypted so this warning may appear
- for some of your files. But if this warning appears a lot, or in
- combination with by example the T-warning, there could be a virus
- involved! Many viruses encrypt themself and cause this warning to
- be displayed.
-
- 'D'Direct disk access.
-
- This warning is displayed if the program being processed has
- instructions near the entry-point to write to a disk directly. It
- is normal that some disk related utilities cause this warning to be
- displayed (like Undelete.Exe). As usual, if many of your files
- (which have nothing to do with the disk) cause this warning to be
- displayed your system might be infected by an unknown virus.
-
- 'N'Wrong name extension.
-
- Name conflict. The program carries the extension .EXE but appears to
- be a .COM file, or it has the extension .COM but the internal layout
- of an .EXE file. TbScan scans the file for both EXE and COM type
- signatures.
-
- 'M'Memory resident code.
-
- TbScan has found instruction sequences which could make the program
- to remain resident in memory or to hook into important interrupts.
- Almost all TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs will trigger
- this warning, because hooking into interrupts or remaining
- resident belong to their normal behaviour. However if a lot of
- normal programs (not intended to be a TSR) have this warning mark
- it is suspicious. It is possible that the files are infected by a
- virus that remains resident in memory. Note that this warning does
- not appear for all TSR-programs, nor does it always mean that when
- this warning appears the program is a TSR program.
-
- 'F'Suspicious file access.
-
- TbScan has found instruction sequences common to infection schemes
- used by viruses. This warning will appear for a few programs that
- are able to create or modify existing files. However, if this
- warning appears a lot, the files might be infected, especially if
- the warning is accompanied by other serious warnings.
-
- '?'Inconsistent header.
-
- The program being processed has an exe-header that does not reflect
- the actual program layout. Many viruses do not update the exe-header
- of an EXE file correctly after they have infected the file, so if
- this warning appears a lot it seems you have a problem. You should
- ignore this warning for the DOS SORT.EXE program.
-
- 'E'Read or open error.
-
- The file could not be opened or read. This can be the result of an
- error on the disk(ette), but the file could also be in use by
- another task or network user. The file has not been scanned.
-
- 'J'Multiple jumps.
-
- The program did not start at the program entry point, but the code
- has jumped at least two times before reaching the final startup
- code. This is rather strange for normal programs. If many files
- cause this warning to be displayed you should investigate your
- system thorougly.
-
- 'p'Packed or compressed file.
-
- The program is packed or compressed. This warning is quiet normal.
- Consult the manual for more information.
-
- 'w'Windows or OS/2 header.
-
- The program can be or is intended to be used with Windows (or OS/2).
-
- 'h'Hidden or System file.
-
- The file has the "Hidden" or the "System" file attribute set.
-
- 'i'Internal overlay.
-
- The program being processed has additional data or code behind the
- load-module as specified in the exe-header of the file. The
- program might have internal overlay(s) or configuration information
- appended behind the load-module of the EXE file.
-
- 's'Unusual stack.
-
- The EXE file being processed has an odd (instead of even) stack
- offset or no stack at all.
-
-