Summary

This Windows-based virus was found in the wild from France and UK in March 1996. The virus was distributed in a file called dogzcode.zip via the alt.cracks usenet newsgroup. Tentacle infects Windows 3.1x EXE files.

Tentacle infects files in the current and Windows directories. It does not stay memory resident.

Occasionally, Tentacle will replace the icon in the infected EXE file with it's own copy. This new icon has a picture of a tentacle and the text 'Tentacle'. Tentacle also sometimes corrupts EXE files when infecting them. Such program do not work after the infection.

The author of this virus also wrote the Shell and Tentatrickle viruses. See: Shell

[Analysis: Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure]