AIE01001@UFRJ.BITNET (10/06/90)
Here we are again ...
This morning, when i turned on an AT-class machine in our lab, the
screen suddenly blanked and an astonishing message appeared (in
40-column mode):
"Type 'Happy Birthday Joshi'!"
I could only proceed after typing the stupid message. After doing some
tests i found some interesting facts:
- - SCAN v62 didn't detect any virus
- - the system date was changed to January 5th, 1990
- - CHKDSK & PCShell showed that DOS reported only 634k of total memory
(should be 640k)
- - cold and warm boots are much slower than before
I executed the manufacturer set-up program and corrected the date.
Now the message doesn't show up anymore, but the other symptoms are
still present. I believe that the virus is hiding either in the hard
disk partition table or in the CMOS, since it's activated before the
operating system load.
Would anyone please send me information on how to deal with this
virus?
Thanks in advance.
Joaquim de Oliveira Vasconcelos
Systems Analyst
COPPE - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro / BRASIL