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- *******************************************************************************
-
- ZeroVirus v2.01
-
- (c) Copyright 1989 by Jonathan Potter
-
- *******************************************************************************
-
-
- INTRODUCTION
- ------------
-
- Welcome to ZeroVirus!
- This program is a complete virus detection, removal, and protection system.
- Using ZeroVirus, you can check the bootblock of any disc. You can install
- the disc (removing any virus that is present) with one of four different
- bootblocks, and backup the bootblocks of your commercial programs to ensure
- recovery from any viruses in the future.
- You can also use ZeroVirus to check a directory or a whole disc for any known
- file (link) viruses.
- ZeroVirus uses BrainFiles to make updating easier. The BrainFiles contain
- information that ZeroVirus uses to identify viruses and other bootblocks.
- ZeroVirus has a LEARN option, whereby you may include in the BrainFile the data
- necessary to recognise a certain bootblock in the future. ZeroVirus also has
- "on-line" BrainFile editing, to make the procedure even easier.
- You can iconify ZeroVirus to a small window on the Workbench screen. Here, it
- runs in the background, checking every disc you insert in the drives.
-
-
- STARTING ZEROVIRUS
- ------------------
-
- To start ZeroVirus, double-click on the icon from Workbench, or type
- "ZeroVirus" from the CLI.
- ZeroVirus looks for the BrainFile (called "ZeroVirus.BrainFile") in either
- the current directory, or in the S: directory, and if it is found, it will be
- read in.
- ZeroVirus then looks for the Palette file (called "ZeroVirus.Palette") in the
- same places, and will read in your custom colours from that file if it can be
- found.
-
-
- MEMORY CHECKING
- ---------------
-
- Once ZeroVirus has finished the above operations, memory is checked for any
- known viruses. If any are found, they are automatically removed, and you are
- notified of their presence.
- After this, ZeroVirus checks a number of system vectors. The vectors checked
- are WarmCapture, CoolCapture, ColdCapture, KickTagPtr (or RomTags), KickMemPtr
- and KickCheckSum vectors. These should all normally be zero ($000000), and one
- sign of a virus in memory is these vectors pointing somewhere else. If their
- value is not $000000, you will be given the option to restore them to $000000.
- Be careful here, because some legitimate programs, like Guardian, modify these
- to their own purposes.
- After this, you are prompted to press the left mouse button to continue.
-
-
- MAIN MENU
- ---------
-
- Several options are available from the main menu.
- The BOOTBLOCKS gadget, or "BootBlocks" from the pull-down menu takes you into
- the bootblock checking part of ZeroVirus.
- Likewise, the FILES gadget, or "Files" from the pull-down menu takes you into
- the file checking part of ZeroVirus.
- The BRAINFILES gadget, or "BrainFiles" from the pull-down menu takes you into
- the "on-line" BrainFile editor.
- The LEAVE gadget gives you the option of either quitting or iconifying
- ZeroVirus.
- "Palette" from the pull-down menu allows you to edit the colours ZeroVirus
- uses, and "Save Palette" allows you to save them for future use.
- "About" displays some information about the program.
- "Iconify" iconifies ZeroVirus.
- "Quit" exits ZeroVirus.
-
-
- BOOTBLOCKS
- ----------
-
- This section of ZeroVirus allows you to work with the bootblocks of discs.
- To check the bootblock of a disc, click on the icon of the drive the disc is
- in. If no errors occur, the bootblock will be read and checked. If the
- bootblock is recognised, its name and description will be displayed.
-
- eg "Normal DOS bootblock."
- "This disc is okay. Insert another disc to keep checking."
-
- "ZeroVirus BigScreenTest bootblock"
- "Check for PAL sized screen on bootup"
-
- "SCA virus recognised!"
- "This disc contains a virus! INSTALL it immediately!"
-
- If the bootblock is not recognised, you will see
-
- "Non-standard bootblock"
- "Suggestion : BACKUP and INSTALL"
-
- Under the description, the bootblock is displayed. Characters in white
- represent standard bootblock characters; those in red represent non-standard
- bootblock characters.
- ZeroVirus detects disc changes, so to check another disc in the same drive,
- simple eject the current disc and insert the new one.
- Several options are available from a pull-down menu.
- A "-->" in menu names indicates the presence of sub-menus. From top to bottom,
- the menu options are :
-
- BootBlock --> - This option allows you to select the bootblock that
- will be written to discs when you install them.
- Standard - This is the standard AmigaDOS 1.3 bootblock.
- NoFastMem - This bootblock allows you to turn off all
- auto-configuring expansion memory on bootup.
- BigScreenTest - All PAL Amigas have a bug that causes an NTSC (200
- line) screen to occasionally open on bootup,
- instead of one the normal PAL size (256 lines).
- This bootblock checks the size of the screen you
- are about to boot into, and if it is <256 lines,
- will give you a chance to reset the computer.
- This eliminates the possibility of going through
- a half hour long 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 starting and ending addresses of
- the chunk, in hexadecimal. If you give no input to
- this, the RAM from $f80000 to $fbfffe present in
- Amiga 1000s with Kickstart in ROM is assumed.
- Install - This option installs the disc in the currently
- selected drive, with the selected bootblock.
- Learn - This option allows you to learn the bootblock of the
- disc in the currently selected drive.
- ZeroVirus recognises bootblocks by checking eight
- characters. If all characters match the required
- characters, ZeroVirus recognises the bootblock.
- When you select learn, eight characters in the
- bootblock view are highlighted. These are the eight
- characters ZeroVirus has picked to recognise the
- bootblock by. Unfortunately, ZeroVirus cannot
- distinguish between code and text. Since text in
- a bootblock can be changed relatively easily, it is
- not a good idea to learn text bytes.
- If it is obvious that ZeroVirus has picked some
- text bytes to learn, you may reselect the bytes
- yourself.
- A maximum of eight characters may be highlighted at
- once.
- To toggle a character on or off, click on it with
- the left mouse button.
- You may pick eight or less characters.
- Once you have finished picking characters, click
- in the centre of the screen where you are told to.
- You are now prompted for the name of the bootblock.
- To cancel the learn operation, just press return
- for this.
- Once you have entered the name, you are asked
- for a description. If the bootblock you have just
- learnt is a virus, just press return for this.
- Names and descriptions may be 80 characters at the
- most.
- Learn only learns to memory - the bootblock is
- not recorded to the BrainFile on disc until you
- do so from the BrainFile editing menu.
-
- Force Learn - It may happen occasionally that the bootblock of the
- disc you wish to learn has the same bytes in the same
- places as a bootblock ZeroVirus has learnt previously.
- In this case, Learn will complain that ZeroVirus
- already knows this bootblock.
- You may now learn the bootblock with Force Learn,
- and pick some different bytes.
- The bootblock will still not be recognised, however,
- as the first bootblock is before this one in the list.
- To overcome this problem, you may re-arrange the order
- of bootblocks in the BrainFile from the BrainFile
- editing menu.
-
- Backup --> - These options allow you to manipulate bootblocks
- as disc files.
- Backup - Many programs employ custom bootblocks. These
- bootblocks may be for fast loaders, intros, etc.
- Many of these programs depend on their custom
- bootblock. If this bootblock is overwritten with a
- virus, the program will no longer work.
- Backup allows you to backup a bootblock to a disc
- file, for future retrieval.
- When Backup is selected, a file requester appears for
- you to enter the name you wish to save the bootblock
- as. The name of the disc is automatically entered as
- the filename, but this may be edited.
- Once you have chosen the name, you are asked to
- enter an optional comment for the bootblock (maximum
- 40 characters).
- Providing no errors occur, the bootblock will be
- saved to the file.
- It is a good idea to keep all bootblocks in the same
- directory, and an even better idea to keep a backup
- of the disc containing the bootblocks.
- Restore - Restore allows you to restore a previously backed-up
- bootblock to the disc in the selected drive.
- Selecting this opens the file requester, prompting
- you for the name of the bootblock you wish to restore.
- Catalogue - Catalogue allows you to generate a catalogue of all
- the backed-up bootblocks in a specified directory.
- Selecting this opens a requester with various gadgets
- allowing you to configure the catalogue.
- 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.
- SORT BY NAME, COMMENT and DATE allow you to turn
- catalogue sorting on or off, and select which
- item the catalogue is sorted by.
- GENERATE CATALOGUE opens the file requester, allowing
- you to select the directory containing the bootblocks
- you wish to catalogue. Only bootblocks saved with
- ZeroVirus are included in the catalogue.
- View Saved - This allows you to view a saved bootblock. Selecting
- it opens the file requester, prompting you for the
- name of the bootblock you wish to view.
- Compare Saved - This allows you to compare the bootblock of the disc
- in the selected drive with a bootblocks saved to a
- disc file. The saved bootblock is the one actually
- shown. Conflicting characters are shown in red;
- identical characters are shown in white.
- Print Saved - This allows you to dump a saved bootblock to the
- printer (PRT:). The bootblock is printed in both
- hexadecimal and ASCII.
-
- Print - This allows you to dump the bootblock of the disc in
- the selected drive to the printer (PRT:).
-
- Toolkit --> - These options allow you to manipulate bootblocks in
- special ways.
- UnInstall - UnInstall un-installs a disc, leaving the bootblock
- the same as if the disc had just been formatted.
- Fix Checksum - This fixes the checksum of the bootblock, and makes
- it bootable.
- No Checksum - This zeroes the checksum of the bootblock, and makes
- it non-bootable.
- Copy Block - This allows you to copy the bootblock of the disc
- in the selected drive to a disc in another drive.
- After selecting this, click on the drive that you
- want to copy the bootblock to, or click on the same
- drive to cancel the operation.
-
- Main Menu - This option returns you to the main menu.
-
-
- FILES
- -----
-
- This section of ZeroVirus allows you to check files for file (link) viruses.
- When selected, the screen clears and the file requester opens. You may now
- select the directory you wish to check (don't worry about the filename).
- When the directory has been chosen, you are asked if you wish to check all
- the sub-directories as well. This allows you to check a whole disc at once, if
- necessary.
- You are now asked if you want any viruses to be automatically removed. If you
- answer positively to this, any file viruses found will be removed
- automatically, unless a user action is unavoidable (eg an error occurs).
- The files are now checked. The filenames are displayed on the screen as they
- are being checked.
- File viruses are not learnt in BrainFiles. Therefore, ZeroVirus will be
- updated if and when new file viruses appear.
- Currently recognised file viruses are :
-
- IRQ virus - This virus attaches itself to the first command in the
- startup-sequence.
- TTV1 virus - Also known as the BGS9 virus, this one replaces the
- first command in the startup-sequence with itself, and
- places the original file in a hidden file in DEVS:
- If this virus is found, ZeroVirus will also give you
- the option of trying to replace the original file.
- Even if automatic virus removal is on, user input is
- required here, as ZeroVirus has no idea where the DEVS:
- directory on that disc is (in relation to the current
- directory). The file requester is opened for this.
- LAMER virus - This virus is usually disguised as a hidden file, and
- inserts a line calling itself in the startup-sequence.
- If a file called "startup-sequence" is found, it will
- be checked to see if it calls this virus. The virus
- calls itself a name consisting of (in hex) A0
- (160 decimal). These are invisible as normal ASCII.
- If any of these are found in the "startup-sequence",
- ZeroVirus can remove them.
-
-
- BRAINFILES
- ----------
-
- The "on-line" BrainFile editor allows you to easily edit the current
- BrainFile.
- The name of all bootblocks known by the current BrainFile are displayed on
- the screen, along with their comments.
- You may scroll the selector-bar up and down the list of bootblocks with the
- UP and DOWN gadgets at the bottom of the screen, or with the Move menu.
- Several options are available from a pull-down menu; these are :
-
- New - This option discards the BrainFile in memory at the
- moment, and begins a new one. Be careful with this;
- there is no undo feature.
-
- Load - This option allows you to load a BrainFile from disc
- into memory, replacing the BrainFile in memory at the
- moment. The file requester is used to allow you to
- select the BrainFile.
- Note that BrainFiles need not be called
- "ZeroVirus.BrainFile" - they may be called anything, and
- kept anywhere. However, they will not be read in
- automatically when ZeroVirus is run unless they are.
-
- Save - This option allows you to save the BrainFile in
- memory to disc. The file requester is used to allow
- you to select the name.
- The User Update count of the current BrainFile is
- incremented everytime you Save.
-
- Edit --> - These options allow you to make changes to the entries
- in the BrainFile.
- Move - Move allows you to reposition an entry in the BrainFile.
- When selected, you may move the selector-bar to the
- position you wish the entry to be moved to.
- Press the right mouse button when the bar is in the
- correct position. You are then asked if you wish the
- entry to be moved above or below the current position.
- To cancel this, press the right mouse button without
- moving the bar.
- Rename - This allows you to change the name and description of
- the highlighted entry.
- Delete - This allows you to delete the highlighted entry from
- the BrainFile.
- Merge - The Learn option allows you to include your own
- bootblocks in the BrainFile. However, new BrainFiles
- issued by the author will not, of course, contain these,
- and so you would have had to Learn them all again.
- Merge allows you to, effectively, join the current
- BrainFile with one on disc. However, the "new" BrainFile
- will not contain any repeated entries.
-
- Move --> - These options allow you to move around the current
- BrainFile.
- Entry Up - Moves you one entry up. Identical to pressing the UP
- gadget.
- Entry Down - Moves you one entry down. Identical to pressing the DOWN
- gadget.
- Page Up - Moves you one page (13 entries) up.
- Page Down - Moves you one page (13 entries) down.
- Top - Moves you to the top of the BrainFile.
- Bottom - Moves you to the bottom of the BrainFile.
-
- Main Menu - This option returns you to the main menu.
-
-
- PALETTE
- -------
-
- The palette requester has several gadgets to enable you to set the colours of
- the screen. The coloured squares at the top of the window let you select
- which colour you wish to work with. Underneath these is a window-wide bar,
- which is filled with the current colour, and displays (in hex) the value of
- the colour.
- Under this are six slider gadgets. The first three, R, G and B enable you to
- set the red, green and blue content of the current colour. The next three,
- H, S and L enable you to set the hue, saturation and luminance of the
- current colour.
- Under these are six other gadgets.
- - COPY allows you to copy the current colour to the next selected colour.
- - SPREAD allows you to evenly spread the colours between the current
- colour and the next selected colour.
- - RESET allows you to reset to the palette in use when the Palette
- Requester was first invoked. Also, pressing the ESCape key has this
- effect, so if you accidentally set all the colours to black (or
- something), just press ESCape.
- - DEFAULT returns the colours to their default settings.
- - OKAY accepts the current colour settings and exits the palette requester.
- - CANCEL rejects the colour settings and exits the palette requester.
- Clicking the close gadget also has this effect.
-
-
- ICONIFY
- -------
-
- Iconify 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. If the bootblock is a virus, you are not told which virus it is.
- You will find this out when you return to ZeroVirus.
- You are only notified if the bootblock is a virus, or if it is an unknown,
- non-standard bootblock.
- 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, activate the window and
- press the right mouse button. To exit ZeroVirus without returning to the main
- program, click the close gadget.
-
- If, from the CLI, ZeroVirus is run with the "-i" option, ie
-
- ZeroVirus -i
-
- it will start up in the iconified mode.
- You may also, from the CLI, specify the x and y locations of the iconified
- window.
-
- ZeroVirus -xnum1 -ynum2
-
- will set the left edge of the window to num1, and top edge to num2. You may
- use -i, -x and -y in any order, and they are all optional.
-
-
- ABOUT
- -----
-
- ZeroVirus is NOT public domain, although it is freely redistributable. It is
- under NO circumstances to be sold, or included on any product for profit,
- without prior permission from me.
- ZeroVirus may be copied and used freely. A $25 donation will get you the
- latest version of program and BrainFile, a printed manual (that is much more
- detailed than these instructions), and a satisfied conscience.
- 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 : (08) 2932788
-
- or c/o
-
- MegaDisc
- P.O. Box 759
- Crows Nest N.S.W. 2065
- Australia
- ph : (02) 9593692
-