Path Virus

Virus Name: Path Aliases: VHP-547, Vienna-547 V Status: Rare Discovered: November, 1991 Symptoms: .COM file growth; system hangs; random characters written to system display Origin: Unknown Eff Length: 547 - 562 Bytes Type Code: PNCK - Parasitic Non-Resident .COM Infector Detection Method: ViruScan, Sweep, AVTK, F-Prot, ChAV, NAV, IBMAV, NAVDX, VAlert, PCScan, NShld, LProt, Sweep/N, NProt, AVTK/N, NAV/N, IBMAV/N, Innoc Removal Instructions: Delete infected files General Comments: The Path, or VHP-547, virus was received in November, 1991. Its origin is unknown. Path is a non-resident, direct action infector of .COM files, including COMMAND.COM. When a program infected with the Path virus is executed, the virus will search the current directory for one uninfected .COM file to infect. If it finds one, it may or may not become infected by the virus. Path infected programs will have a file length increase of 547 to 562 bytes. The virus will be located at the end of the infected file. There will be no visible change to the file's date and time in a DOS disk directory listing. The following text strings can be found within infected programs: "IBM" "PATH=" Symptoms of an infection of the Path virus are that some infected programs will hang the system when they are executed. Others may result in random characters from memory being written to the system display.