Wizard 3.0 Virus
Virus Name: Wizard 3.0
Aliases:
V Status: Rare
Discovered: December, 1992
Symptoms: .COM file growth; message & beeping
Origin: Poland
Eff Length: 268 Bytes
Type Code: PRCK - Parasitic Resident .COM Infector
Detection Method: AVTK, F-Prot, Sweep, ViruScan, IBMAV, PCScan, ChAV,
NAV, NAVDX, VAlert,
Sweep/N, NShld, NProt, AVTK/N, NAV/N, IBMAV/N, Innoc,
LProt
Removal Instructions: Delete infected files
General Comments:
The Wizard 3.0 virus was submitted in December, 1992. It is
originally from Poland. Wizard 3.0 is a memory resident infector
of .COM programs, including COMMAND.COM.
When the first Wizard 3.0 infected program is executed, the Wizard
3.0 virus will install itself memory resident in a "hole" in low
system memory, hooking interrupt 21. Total system and available
free memory, as indicated by the DOS CHKDSK program, will not be
changed.
Once the Wizard 3.0 virus is memory resident, it will infect .COM
programs, including COMMAND.COM, when they are executed. Infected
programs will have a file length increase of 268 bytes with the
virus being located at the end of the file. The program's date and
time in the DOS disk directory listing will not be altered. The
following text is visible within the viral code in all Wizard 3.0
infected programs:
"I'm WIZARd 3.0"
The Wizard virus will occassionally display the above message on
the system monitor when a program is executed. When the message
is displayed, it is slowly typed character by character with
accompanying beeps on the system speaker.
Known variant(s) of Wizard 3.0 are:
Wizard.312: Received in January, 1995, Wizard.312 is a 312 byte
variant of the Wizard virus described above. It adds 312
bytes to the .COM files it infects. The file's date in the DOS
disk directory listing will not be altered, but the time will
have been set to "10:00:00 AM". The following text strings
can be found within the viral code in all infected programs:
"Microbi is here!"
"4991 uheyzrk"
The first text string may be displayed as a message on the
system monitor when an infected program is executed.
Origin: Unknown January, 1995.