Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!dsinc!netnews.upenn.edu!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!cert.sei.cmu.edu!krvw From: CHESS@YKTVMV.BITNET (David.M.Chess) Newsgroups: comp.virus Subject: Mutation of Stoned (PC) Message-ID: <0006.9103251532.AA25003@ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu> Date: 21 Mar 91 20:01:52 GMT Sender: Virus Discussion List Lines: 20 Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu Pat Ralston writes: >We have found a mutation of the Stoned or Stoned II virus. McAfee's >VIRUSCAN version 74B reports Stoned, but ONLY on FLOPPY disks. >Version 74B cannot find Stoned on the hard disk. However, when using >Norton Disk Editor we find the following message in the Partition >Table" "Your PC is now Stoned! LEGALISE". Please note that Legalise >is NOT spelled with a Z as in other versions and is in all uppercase >letters. Now I'm taking an unusual (for me) risk here, as I'm at home with the tail end of a nasty cold, and can't verify it, but I'm Pretty Sure that the standard normal everyday Stoned virus spells the word with an "S" ("LEGALISE"). There are also many cases in which the word "MARIJUANA" has been overwritten (probably, I am told, by hard disk controllers that keep some data in an "unused" part of the master boot record, and overwrite that word in the process). So my guess would be that you have the normal vanilla Stoned virus, and 74B just isn't seeing it on the hard disk for some reason (have you tried 75 yet?). DC