14) Do I have a virus, and how do I know? (Computer virus)
Description
This article is from the Computer viruses FAQ, by David Harley D.Harley@icrf.icnet.uk, George Wenzel gwenzel@telusplanet.net and Bruce Burrell bpb@umich.edu with numerous contributions by others.
14) Do I have a virus, and how do I know? (Computer virus)
Almost anything odd a computer may do can (and has been)
blamed on a computer "virus," especially if no other
explanation can readily be found. In most cases, when an
anti-virus program is then run, no virus is found.
A computer virus can cause unusual screen displays, or
messages - but most don't do that. A virus may slow the
operation of the computer - but many times that doesn't
happen. Even longer disk activity, or strange hardware
behaviour can be caused by legitimate software, harmless
"prank" programs, or by hardware faults. A virus may cause
a drive to be accessed unexpectedly (and the drive light to
go on) - but legitimate programs can do that also.
One usually reliable indicator of a virus infection is
a change in the length of executable (*.com/*.exe) files, a
change in their content, or a change in their file date/time
in the Directory listing. But some viruses don't infect
files, and some of those which do can avoid showing changes
they've made to files, especially if they're active in RAM.
Another common indication of a virus infection is a
change to interrupt vectors or the reassignment of system
resources. Unaccounted use of memory or a reduction in the
amount normally shown for the system may be significant.
In short, observing "something funny" and blaming it on
a computer virus is less productive than scanning regularly
for potential viruses, and not scanning, because "everything
is running OK" is equally inadvisable.
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