Squeaker Virus

Virus Name: Squeaker Aliases: V Status: Rare Discovered: November, 1991 Symptoms: .COM & .EXE growth; decrease in total system and available free memory; Scan.Exe will be deleted if executed; file date/time change Origin: Unknown Eff Length: 1,091 Bytes Type Code: PRhAK - Parasitic Resident .COM & .EXE Infector Detection Method: ViruScan, AVTK, Sweep, F-Prot, ChAV, NAV, IBMAV, NAVDX, VAlert, PCScan, NShld, LProt, Sweep/N, Innoc, NProt, AVTK/N, NAV/N, IBMAV/N Removal Instructions: Delete infected files General Comments: The Squeaker virus was received from Europe in November, 1991. Squeaker is a memory resident infector of .COM and .EXE programs, including COMMAND.COM. The first time a program infected with Squeaker is executed, the virus will install itself memory resident at the top of system memory but below the 640K DOS boundary. Total system and available free memory, as indicated by the DOS CHKDSK program, will have decreased by 1,136 bytes. Interrupt 12's return will not have been moved. Interrupts 1C and 21 will be hooked by the virus. Once Squeaker is memory resident, it will infect .COM and .EXE programs when they are executed. If COMMAND.COM is executed, it will also become infected. Programs infected with Squeaker will have a file length increase of 1,091 bytes with the virus being located at the end of the infected file. The file's date and time in the DOS disk directory will have been updated to the system date and time when infection occurred. A symptom of a Squeaker infection is that once the virus is memory resident, if the system user attempts to executed Scan.Exe, Scan.Exe will be deleted. The user will then be returned to the DOS prompt. It is unknown if Squeaker contains any other damage potential.