SOLANO 2000 (computer virus)

Computer virus | Fullname = Solano 2000
Common name = Solano 2000
Technical name = Solano 2000
Family = Dyslexia
Aliases = Solano, Solano.2000, Dyslexia.Solano, Dyslexia2.01
Classification = Virus
Type = DOS
Subtype = DOS file infector
IsolationDate = March 1990
Isolation = Vacaville, California, United States
Origin = Unknown
Author = Unknown

Solano 2000 is a computer virus that was discovered in the city of Vacaville, California, in March 1990. It is a standard variant of the Dyslexia virus family and is named after Solano County, California, in which Vacaville is located. It was also isolated, and subsequently analysed, in San Pablo in adjacent Contra Costa County. The "2000" portion indicates the number of bytes in the virus code.

At this time, Solano 2000 is considered to be an obsolete virus.

Infection

Solano 2000 is a standard DOS file infector. It infects .COM files and is memory resident. It will infect files as they are opened after an infected .COM is opened, until the virus is terminated, such as by a reboot. It is generally not a highly damaging infector, but can occasionally corrupt files.

ymptoms

A number of symptoms are associated with Solano 2000:

*Transposing of text on the screen associated with the virus checking the video buffer.
*Colour changes associated with the virus checking the video buffer.
*Increase in .COM files by 2,000 bytes.
*3K of RAM taken for memory residency after Solano 2000 is executed.
*Display of "Dyslexia virus V2.01" (although this can only be produced intentionally).

Symptoms one through four are not specific to Solano 2000, and have been associated with much more common viruses. However, in conjunction, a diagnosis of Solano 2000 could be considered, although it is very unlikely to be found in the field.

Prevalence

Solano 2000 was isolated in March 1991, long before virus statistics were common. However, the WildList [http://www.parc.xerox.com/about/history/default.html] , an organisation tracking computer viruses, never reported any virus with a name resembling Solano 2000 as being in the field. It is highly unlikely that a virus of this age would be discovered in the field, especially one which was never common in the first place. Detections of Solano 2000 should be considered very likely to be false positives.

Aliases and variants

CIAC [http://www.ciac.org/ciac/virdb/VIRS0782.TXT] and various other sources list an alias or variant of Solano 2000 as "Subliminal." It is unknown whether this is a minor variant or another name. However, it is not immediately unclear what this name refers to, although it may be a reference to the video buffer related symptoms mentioned above.

External links

* [http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_1136.htm McAfee Description]