The Fred Fish Collection 1.5/ffcollection-1-5-1992-11.iso/ff_disks/200-299/ff242.lzh/ZeroVirus/ZeroVirus.doc

Text File | 1989-08-30 | 21KB | 465 lines

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                              ZeroVirus v1.3

                    (c) Copyright 1989 by Jonathan Potter

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      NOTE: See accompanying doc file ZVChanges.doc for changes, etc..
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INTRODUCTION

Welcome to ZeroVirus, the MegaDisc virus checker. This program was written
for and is recommended by MegaDisc, and it is my hope that this program will
serve to totally protect you from any form of Amiga virus. While I have
complete confidence in the performance of this program, neither I nor
MegaDisc will be liable for any damage resulting from the use or abuse of
this program (unlikely, but..).

ZeroVirus is a fully integrated virus checker and killer, and bootblock
backup-er and restore-er. With ZeroVirus, you can check the bootblock of any
disc. You may install the disc (removing any virus present) with one of
four different bootblocks, and backup the bootblocks of your commercial
programs to ensure recovery from any viruses in the future. ZeroVirus will
also check a directory of files for any known file viruses, and give you the
option of removing them.

ZeroVirus uses BrainFiles to make updating easier. The BrainFiles contain
information that ZeroVirus uses to identify viruses. ZeroVirus has a LEARN
option whereby you may include in the BrainFile information from a given
disc, so that ZeroVirus will recognise that disc in the future. The capacity
of the BrainFiles are only limited by available memory (each known bootblock
takes approximately 150 bytes), so the option is there to learn and recognise
every non-standard bootblock in your software library.

ZeroVirus is driven by a series of gadgets, which are selected by clicking
and releasing the left mouse button, while the pointer is positioned over
them.


STARTING ZEROVIRUS

To start ZeroVirus, double-click on the icon or type "ZeroVirus" from the
CLI. You *_MUST_* have the BrainFile (called ZeroVirus.BrainFile) in either
the current directory (same directory as ZeroVirus) or in the S: directory.
The BrainFile will be read in, and then ZeroVirus checks memory for any
viruses. If any are found, they are automatically removed, and you are
notified of their presence.
The Warm, Cool and Cold Capture, and the KickTagPtr, KickMemPtr and
KickCheckSum vectors are checked. These should normally be $000000, and one
sign of a new virus is these vectors pointing somewhere else. If they do not
point to $000000, you will be told of their value, and given the option to
restore them to $000000. Note *_PLEASE_* that some legitimate programs,
like Guardian modify these to their own purposes, so you should be careful
about restoring these if you are using such a program.
If the AmigaDOS 1.3 Recoverable RAM disc is found, you will be told of this.
If any viruses are detected in memory, you should carefully check your
bootdisc, and any discs you have used since then, for viruses.

Once ZeroVirus has completed this, you are prompted to press either mouse
button.
The main menu then appears on the screen.


MAIN MENU

Several options are available from the main menu. These are described below,
and then discussed in detail.

  CHECK DISCS FOR VIRUSES

  This option allows you to check your discs for viruses, and kill them if
  present.

  BACKUP BOOTBLOCKS TO DISC FILES

  This option allows you to backup the custom bootblocks of your discs.

  RESTORE BOOTBLOCKS FROM DISC FILES

  This option allows you to restore previously backed-up bootblocks to discs.

  CATALOGUE BACKED-UP BOOTBLOCKS

  This option allows you to generate a catalogue of previously backed-up
  bootblocks.

  ADJUST COLOURS

  This option allows you to alter the colour settings of ZeroVirus.

  ABOUT ZEROVIRUS

  This displays program information.

  ICONIFY

  This allows you to shrink ("iconify") ZeroVirus to a small window on the
  Workbench screen.

  EXIT FROM ZEROVIRUS

  This exits the program, and returns you to from whence you came!


CHECK DISCS FOR VIRUSES

This option allows you to check the bootblock of any disc, to check a given
directory or file for the presence of a file virus, and to check your
Startup-Sequence for the calling of a file virus.

As with most of the main options, CHECK DISCS FOR VIRUSES has four disc drive
gadgets in the top left quarter of the screen (gadgets for drives not
connected will be disabled).

To check a disc, simple click on the appropriate drive gadget.
If any errors occur, either a requester will appear or a message will be
displayed at the bottom of the screen. If all goes well, the disc will be
checked, and you will be told of the result.
To the right of the appropriate drive gadget appears the name of the
bootblock.
If the disc contains a standard DOS bootblock, you will see

         "Normal DOS bootblock.".

If the disc contains a non-standard bootblock, you will see

         "Non-standard bootblock.".

If the disc contains a recognised non-standard bootblock, the name of the
bootblock will be displayed. If the bootblock is a virus, this will be
displayed in red (or whatever colour has been chosen to replace red).
For example,

         "SCA virus recognised."
         "CCS-BOOT bootblock recognised.".

At the bottom of the screen will appear a comment or instruction pertaining
to the current bootblock. Again, if the bootblock is a virus, this will be in
red. For example,

         "This disc is okay. Insert another disc to keep checking."
         "This disc contains a virus! INSTALL it immediately!".

ZeroVirus detects discchanges for the currently selected drive automatically,
so if you replace the disc in the currently selected drive with another one,
it will be automatically checked for you.

The first menu option is LEARN. This allows you to permanently learn (as long
as you keep the same BrainFile!) the bootblock of the currently selected
drive (provided ZeroVirus does not already know it). When you select LEARN,
you are presented with a requester asking firstly for the name of the
bootblock. This can be a maximum of 60 characters. Note that the string
" recognised." will automatically be concatenated to the name, so you should
not end the name with a period, or the word "recognised".
Once you have entered the desired name, and pressed return, you are asked for
a description of the bootblock. This again can be 60 characters long, but
nothing is joined to the end, as with the name. If the bootblock you wish to
LEARN is a virus, you should just press return for the description (ie an
empty string). The string

         "This disc contains a virus! INSTALL it immediately!"

will automatically be substituted, and will be displayed in red. Once you
have entered the description, the learnt bootblock will be written to the
BrainFile.
Again, the BrainFile *_MUST_* be in the current directory or the S:
directory. The disc it resides on should not be write protected, and there
should be at least 150 bytes free).
Every time you LEARN a bootblock, the user update count of the BrainFile
version number will be updated. The official version number is not updated;
this is changed as new BrainFiles are issued by the author. As new BrainFiles
are issued by the author, you should update your old BrainFile with the
UDBF program accompanying ZeroVirus.
*_PLEASE_*, if you find any new viruses, send them to the author.
LEARN is reasonably intelligent in that it will ONLY learn bytes of a
bootblock that it does not know for any others.

FILE VIRUS CHECK will be discussed later.

INSTALL DISC allows you to overwrite the bootblock on the selected drive
with one of four built in bootblocks (after a positive request to an
"Are you sure?" requester). What is already there will be irrevocably lost,
so if you are unsure you should BACKUP the bootblock first (see further
instructions for this). If no errors occur, the disc will be installed.
Pressing the right mouse button allows you to select the bootblock you
wish to write. A requester will open, with the following four bootblocks
available:

  Standard      - This is the standard AmigaDOS 1.3 bootblock
  NoFastMem     - This bootblock allows you to turn off all auto-configuring
                  expansion memory on reboot.
  BigScreenTest - All PAL Amigas have a bug that causes an NTSC (200 line)
                  sized screen to occasionally open on bootup,
                  instead of the normal PAL size. This bootblock checks the
                  size of the screen you are about to boot into, and if it
                  is NTSC sized, will give you a chance to reset the
                  computer.
                  This eliminates the possibility of going through a half
                  hour Startup-Sequence only to find at the end that you
                  have to reboot because of a short screen.
  AutoAddRAM    - This bootblock allows you to automatically add one chunk
                  of non-autoconfiguring memory on bootup. When you install
                  a disc with this bootblock you are prompted for the start
                  and end addresses of this chunk, in hex. If you give no
                  input to this, the RAM from $f80000 to $fbfffe present
                  in Amiga 1000s with KickStart in ROM is assumed.

VIEW bootblock allows you to see (in ASCII) the bootblock of the currently
selected drive. The bootblock is displayed in two blocks (the first 512
bytes and the last 512 bytes). All non-standard characters (ie all
characters conflicting with those in the same position in a standard
bootblock) are displayed in red. All standard characters are in white.

RETURN TO MAIN MENU will do just that.

FILE VIRUS CHECK allows you to check a file, whole directory or
Startup-Sequence for the presence or calling of currently recognised file
viruses. File viruses are NOT updated by BrainFiles, so as new ones appear,
ZeroVirus will be updated. Descriptions of the recognised file viruses are
given when you select FILE VIRUS CHECK.
After all instructions have been given, a file requester appears. If you
wish to check a whole directory for file viruses, just enter the name of the
directory (complete path name) into the drawer string gadget, and choose OK.
If you wish to check one file, enter the path into the drawer string gadget,
and the filename into the file string gadget. If you wish to check a
Startup-Sequence, you should enter "Startup-Sequence" (sans quotes) into the
file string gadget. Choose OK when ready to proceed, or CANCEL to cancel.
Once you choose OK, whatever you have specified will be checked. If file
viruses are found, you will asked if you want them removed.
Once the checking has finished, statistics on files checked are displayed.
Pressing the left mouse button will continue the check on another directory,
or the right mouse button will take you back to the CHECK DISCS menu.
If a BSG9 file virus is found, and deleted, you will also be given the
option to try to restore the original file. If this is unsuccesful, an
requester will notify you of the failure.

TOOLKIT KEYS

The toolkit keys are available from the CHECK DISCS menu. These keys allow
you to access features not available from gadgets. They are described below.

  F1 - UnINSTALL. This tool uninstalls the disc in the currently selected
       drive, and makes the disc no longer bootable.
  F2 - Fix Checksum. This tool allows you to fix the bootblock checksum on
       the currently selected drive, and make it bootable.
  F3 - Copy bootblock. This tool allows you to copy the bootblock from the
       disc in the currently selected drive to another disc. When you choose
       it you will be asked to click on the destination drive.


BACKUP BOOTBLOCKS TO DISC FILES

This option allows you to keep a copy of the bootblocks of any programs using
custom bootblocks. If these bootblocks are overwritten with, say, a virus,
these programs will no longer work. A good example of these are the Psygnosis
games. If a virus strikes, and the bootblock is overwritten, you will be able
to restore it from your backed-up copy, and save the program.
This option presents you with a screen very similar to that of CHECK DISCS
FOR VIRUSES. LEARN and FILE VIRUS CHECK are missing, and have been replaced
with BACKUP BOOTBLOCK. For instructions on the other functions, see the
CHECK DISCS FOR VIRUSES section.

BACKUP BOOTBLOCK allows you to backup the bootblock of the currently selected
drive to a disc file. When selected, the bootblock is read and you are
presented with a file requester. You should enter the path into the drawer
string gadget. The name of the disc is automatically entered into the file
string gadget as the filename, although you may edit this if you wish. It is
suggested you keep all your backed-up bootblocks in one directory, with
nothing else but bootblocks, although this is not necessary. Once the path
and filename have been entered, choose OK. You are then prompted for an
optional comment for the bootblock (maximum 40 characters). Once this is
entered, and provided no errors occur, the bootblock will be written to the
file.


RESTORE BOOTBLOCKS FROM DISC FILES

This option allows you to restore a previously backed-up bootblock to the
currently selected drive. When RESTORE BOOTBLOCK is selected, you are
presented with a file requester prompting for the path and the filename. Once
these are entered, and provided no errors are encountered, the selected
bootblock will be written to the currently selected drive.

VIEW SAVED BOOTBLOCK operates in the same way as VIEW BOOTBLOCK, except that
a backed-up bootblock is viewed instead of the bootblock of the currently
selected drive. When it is selected you are prompted for the path and
filename of the backed-up bootblock you wish to view.


CATALOGUE BACKED-UP BOOTBLOCKS

This option allows you to generate a catalogue of all the backed-up
bootblocks in a specified directory.

CATALOGUE TO FILE and CATALOGUE TO PRINTER allow you to send the generated
catalogue to a disc file, or to the printer (PRT:).

INCLUDE COMMENTS and INCLUDE DATES allow you to select whether comments and
dates are included in the catalogue.

GENERATE CATALOGUE presents you with the file requester, prompting you for
the directory containing the bootblocks you wish to catalogue. Enter the
path name in the path string gadget and choose OK. If you have chosen to
send the catalogue to a file, you are then prompted for the filename.
The directory is then read. *_ONLY_* bootblocks saved with ZeroVirus are
included in the catalogue. Provided no errors occur, the catalogue is sent
to the desired output.


ADJUST COLOURS

This presents you with a palette requester, allowing you to adjust the
colours of ZeroVirus. The eight coloured gadgets in the top left quarter
allow you to select the current colour to adjust. The first three slider
gadgets allow you to change the amount of red, green and blue in the current
colour, and the last three slider gadgets allow you to change the hue,
saturation and luminance of the current colour.
The wide coloured bar displays the currently selected colour, and (in hex)
the amounts of red, green and blue in it.
COPY allows you to copy the currently selected colour to another pen.
SPREAD allows you to spread the colours between the currently selected colour
and another pen.
RESET will reset the colours to their states when ADJUST COLOURS was chosen.
Pressing ESCape has the same effect as RESET.
CANCEL, or the close gadget resets to colours and exits the palette
requester.
OK accepts the colours and exits the palette requester.
SAVE accepts the colours, exits the palette requester, and attempts to save
the colours to the colour file (ZeroVirus.Palette). The file
ZeroVirus.Palette must be in the current directory or in the S: directory,
and the disc it resides on must not be write protected.


ABOUT ZEROVIRUS

This simply gives you some information on the program and author, and tells
you which version BrainFile you are using.


ICONIFY

This option closes the ZeroVirus window and screen, and opens a small window
on the Workbench screen. ZeroVirus now behaves very much like the PD program
VirusX. Unlike VirusX, however, it also contains a title bar clock and
memory monitor. The current time is displayed (and updated) along with the
amount of chip and fast memory available in the system. When the iconified
window first opens, all discs present are checked for viruses or non-standard
bootblocks. If they have viruses or other non-standard bootblocks on them,
a requester appears, asking you if you wish to return to ZeroVirus. Note that
if the bootblock is a virus, you are not told which virus it is. You will
find this out when you return to ZeroVirus and CHECK DISCS FOR VIRUSES.
After all discs have been checked, the clock starts and continues updating.
Every time a disc is changed, that disc is automatically checked, and the
same procedure as above follows. To return to ZeroVirus from the iconified
window, click the close gadget.
If ZeroVirus is run with the "-i" option, ie

              ZeroVirus -i

it will start up in the iconified mode.
You are only notified if the bootblock is a virus, or if it is a non-standard
and unknown bootblock.


EXIT FROM ZEROVIRUS

This option simply exits ZeroVirus.


HOW TO USE THE FILE REQUESTER

The file requester presents a very easy way to access any file anywhere on
the Amiga. It consists of several different gadgets :

   o  Directory gadgets which allow you to select a file, drawer or volume
      by scrolling through a list and clicking on the one you want, or by
      entering your own in a string gadget.

   o  PARENT gadget allows you to jump back to the parent of the current
      directory.

   o  OKAY gadget which you use to end the requester and accept your
      choices. An alternative to this is double clicking on a file name.

   o  CANCEL gadget which you use to end the requester and reject your
      choices.

   o  RENAME gadget which allows you to rename the currently selected
      file.

   o  DELETE gadget which allows you to delete the currently selected
      file.

   o  MAKE DIR gadget which allows you to make a subdirectory in the
      current directory.

To scroll through the lists of files, drawers and volumes you have a
slider which lets you scan quickly through the entries, and an up and
down gadget which allows you to move through the list one entry at a time.
When the requester is first opened, the available volumes are read in,
sorted, and added to the list. The current directory is then searched for
files and subdirectories.
All gadgets are active while the directories are being read.
The volume list is only updated on discchanges, however the file and
drawer lists are updates whenever you change directory (or choose
a new volume).


ABOUT BRAINFILES

The BrainFile for ZeroVirus is a file called ZeroVirus.BrainFile. This is a
text file, not a program, so it can not be executed. This file can be
edited directly, but it is easier to enter known bootblocks in it via the
LEARN option. The BrainFile MUST end with the string "QUIT" on a new line,
and with no CR/LF following the QUIT.
BrainFile updates will be released on MegaDisc, the MegaDisc software
catalogue, or are available from the author.
It is *_NOT_* recommended that you edit the brainfiles directly, as they
must have exactly the right format, or else they will not work correctly.
See the accompanying program UDBF and its documentation for more information
on updating BrainFiles.


PROGRAM STATUS

ZeroVirus is NOT public domain, although it is freely redistributable. It is
under NO circumstances to be sold, or included on any commercial product. I
consider it immoral to make money out of viruses, so I am not charging for
ZeroVirus. If ZeroVirus does save you from viruses, why not write me a letter
and let me know. No need to send any money (although I am not stupid enough
as to refuse a small contribution), but it would be nice to know just how
much this program is used. Also, if you have any comments or bug reports,
or find any new viruses, *_PLEASE_* send them to me.


THE END

ZeroVirus is an easy program to use. I hope it becomes a program you use
regularly to guard against the battery of viruses on the Amiga. If programs
like this are used regularly by everyone, viruses on the Amiga could one day
become a thing of the past.

Jonathan Potter.


                        To contact the author, write to

                          Jonathan Potter
                          3 William Street
                          Clarence Park S.A. 5034
                          Australia
                     ph : [phone]

                          or c/o

                          MegaDisc
                          P.O. Box 759
                          Crows Nest N.S.W. 2065
                          Australia
                     ph : [phone]