Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!rutgers!netnews.upenn.edu!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!sei.cmu.edu!krvw From: Alan_J_Roberts@cup.portal.com Newsgroups: comp.virus Subject: Yankee Doodle Virus (PC) Message-ID: <0005.9002071642.AA05334@ge.sei.cmu.edu> Date: 5 Feb 90 18:09:36 GMT Sender: Virus Discussion List Lines: 30 Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu This is a forward from John McAfee: ================================================================= O. Fadel points out that Clean-Up overwrites files infected with the Yankee Doodle virus and then deletes them rather than removing the virus and repairing the program. This is pointed out clearly in the documentation. Clean-Up V57 currently repairs infections from 17 of the most common viruses (Yankee Doodle is by no means a common virus - at least based on our reporting statistics) and will identify and overwrite the remainder. Each version of Clean-Up will add more viruses to the list that we can repair - the remainder we will still identify and overwrite. Our priorities for inclusion in the "repair" list are based on the frequency of virus reports. We hope to have all viruses included in the repair list by May 15. Yankee Doodle is Scheduled for mid- April. Mr. Fadel asks why the Clean-Up delete function for less common viruses is any better than the DOS delete function and why anyone would bother to include it. The answer is that the DOS delete function, to the best of my memory, cannot search and identify an infected file. Neither does it do an overwrite. (We overwrite with C3H - the return function - so that a careless undelete will never return the virus to your system). If Yankee Doodle is indeed a larger problem than we thought, then we can re-arrange its priority and move it from the delete list to the repair list for the next version. I welcome suggestions. John McAfee 408 988 3832 (Voice) 408 988 4004 (BBS) 408 970 9727 (FAX)