Classification

Category :

Malware

Type :

Virus

Aliases :

Sandrine

Summary

Sandrine, a simple companion virus, spread through a file called 486up.com which was supposed to improve a 486's performance by 20 to 30%. Instead, it contained a simple 445 bytes long companion virus.

Removal

Based on the settings of your F-Secure security product, it will either move the file to the quarantine where it cannot spread or cause harm, or remove it.

A False Positive is when a file is incorrectly detected as harmful, usually because its code or behavior resembles known harmful programs. A False Positive will usually be fixed in a subsequent database update without any action needed on your part. If you wish, you may also:

  • Check for the latest database updates

    First check if your F-Secure security program is using the latest updates, then try scanning the file again.

  • Submit a sample

    After checking, if you still believe the file is incorrectly detected, you can submit a sample of it for re-analysis.

    Note: If the file was moved to quarantine, you need to collect the file from quarantine before you can submit it.

  • Exclude a file from further scanning

    If you are certain that the file is safe and want to continue using it, you can exclude it from further scanning by the F-Secure security product.

    Note: You need administrative rights to change the settings.

Technical Details

Sandrine took advantage of the fact that the DOS EXEC loader executes a COM file before executing a similarly named EXE file if both files are found in the same directory. Sandrine virus has an activation routine, during which it creates a file called SANDRINE.COM. This file contains the text:

Sandrine Baillieux thoughts of you are in my mind
 (c) 1994 by BrokenHeart

It seems that BrokenHeart was twice unlucky: Sandrine was detected by a F-Secure anti-virus scanner in heuristic mode.