Class
Trojan
Platform
Win16

Parent class: TrojWare

Trojans are malicious programs that perform actions which are not authorized by the user: they delete, block, modify or copy data, and they disrupt the performance of computers or computer networks. Unlike viruses and worms, the threats that fall into this category are unable to make copies of themselves or self-replicate. Trojans are classified according to the type of action they perform on an infected computer.

Class: Trojan

A malicious program designed to electronically spy on the user’s activities (intercept keyboard input, take screenshots, capture a list of active applications, etc.). The collected information is sent to the cybercriminal by various means, including email, FTP, and HTTP (by sending data in a request).

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Platform: Win16

No platform description

Description

Technical Details

This program is not a real trojan, but an utility that works like a trojan because of a bug. This utility intends to replace Windows SHELL with another application by patching the "Shell=" instruction in the SYSTEM.INI file in the [boot] section. Because of a bug this routine does work only on COMPAQ computers and corrupts the SYSTEM.INI file under any other environment: the "Shell=" instruction in this case points to nothing. When Windows reboots with corrupted SYSTEM.INI it is not able to locate the Shell and halts, for instance in case of Win95 it displays the error message:

Error loading.
You must reinstall Windows.

To repair corrupted SYSTEM.INI it is necessary to load the computer in DOS mode and fix following data in the SYSTEM.INI file:

[boot]
shell=

Usually Shell points to EXPLORER.EXE in case of Win32 or to PROGMAN.EXE in case of Win3.xx.

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