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From: p1@arkham.wimsey.bc.ca (Rob Slade)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Re: Can such a virus be written .... (PC)
Message-ID: <0010.9106261903.AA01188@ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: 25 Jun 91 22:10:24 GMT
Sender: Virus Discussion List <VIRUS-L@LEHIIBM1>
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Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu

dkrause@miami.acs.uci.edu (Doug Krause) writes:

> vanaards@project4.computer-science.manchester.ac.uk (Steven van Aardt) writes
> #
> #  Is it possible to write a PC virus which installs itself whenever
> #you place an infected disk in the drive and do a DIR command ?
>
> Doesn't STONED act that way?

Well, yes and no.

(Parenthetically here, let me state that it is hard to state with much
assurance "what 'Stoned' does", since it must be the most widely
"strained" viral program around today.  But anyway ...)

The Stoned virus usually will infect any disk that you "read" with a
DIR command.  But, in fact, it will infect just about any disk that it
does access, regardless of how it does it.

That said, the various strains show tremendous differences.  I have
one which will only infect disks in the A: drive, and another which
refuses to infect anything unless som{ odd conditions{are satisfied.
(I haven't figured them out compltely, but one sure way to infect a
di{k is to read it with PCTOOLS.)

{(Sorry for the line noise today.)

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