Alan_J_Roberts@Sun.COM (08/06/89)
This is a forward from John McAfee:
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Mr Radai rightly points out that there are two boot viruses that
have emanated from Israel. He suggests that we call the first one
(the one that causes letters to fall from the screen) the "Swap"
virus, since the message - 'SWAP Virus FAT12' appears in the modified
boot record. I would heartily agree, except that the version I have
does not display such a message. The thirty byte modification to the
boot record (in my copy), is program code - no data characters at all.
I don't know now whether we are talking about different viruses
(although both allegedly originated with Mr. Tal) or whether some
slight, or major, modification has been made to this virus in its
travels. In any case, for the meantime, I will leave the VIRUSCAN
messages alone. The original virus I still call the 'Israeli Boot',
the new virus I call the 'Typo'. I will change the name to a more
acceptable name after someone has educated me on this issue.
Thanks for bearing with me.
John McAfee