No_Hope Virus

Virus Name: No_Hope Aliases: No_Hope.257 V Status: New Discovered: January, 1996 Symptoms: .COM file growth; file date/time changes Origin: Unknown Eff Length: 257 Bytes Type Code: PNC - Parasitic Non-Resident .COM Infector Detection Method: F-Prot, AVTK, IBMAV, ViruScan, NAV, NAVDX, ChAV, PCScan, NProt, AVTK/N, IBMAV/N, LProt, NShld, NAV/N, Innoc Removal Instructions: Delete infected files General Comments: The No_Hope or No_Hope.258 virus was received in January, 1996, along with one variant. No_Hope is a non-resident, direct action infector of .COM files, but not COMMAND.COM. When a program infected with the No_Hope virus is executed, this virus will infect one .COM file located in the current directory. Infected files will have a file length increase of 257 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 have been updated to the current system date and time when infection occurred. The following text strings are visible within the viral code: "????????COM" "*.cOm" Known variant(s) of No_Hope are: No_Hope.258: Also received in January, 1996, this is a 258 byte variant. Origin: Unknown January, 1996.