McAfee > Theat Center > Virus Detail Page

Overview

This is a virus detection. Viruses are programs that self-replicate recursively, meaning that infected systems spread the virus to other systems, which then propagate the virus further. While many viruses contain a destructive payload, it's quite common for viruses to do nothing more than spread from one system to another.

Characteristics

Taiwan.Theatre is a macro virus. It infects .DOT and .DOC files. It only infects in the Taiwanese version of MS Word due to double byte construct of that software.

Symptoms

The Taiwan.Theatre virus activates on the first of any month. On this date, the virus destroys the system harddrive.

On the 15th of any month, when Winword is executed, the virus displays a 'Taiwan Theatre Jokers' icon jumping on the screen. The display interrupts computer use, while the user is not able to click the mouse or type any keys. Word functions normally the remainder of the day.

Users of infected systems are not able to execute 'Close File' function, the virus causes Windows to display the following error message:

"WordBasic Err=7"
Insufficent Memory"

Method of Infection

Opening the infected document will directly infect the local Word Environment. This will result in the infection of all Documents created and opened on the system.

Removal

All Users :
Script,Batch,Macro and non memory-resident:
Use current engine and DAT files for detection and removal.

PE,Trojan,Internet Worm and memory resident :
Use specified engine and DAT files for detection. To remove, boot to MS-DOS mode or use a boot diskette and use the command line scanner:

Additional Windows ME/XP removal considerations

Users should not trust file icons, particularly when receiving files from others via P2P clients, IRC, email or other mediums where users can share files.

AVERT Recommended Updates :

* Office2000 Updates

* Malformed Word Document Could Enable Macro to Run Automatically (Information/Patch )

* scriptlet.typelib/Eyedog vulnerability patch

* Outlook as an email attachment security update

* Exchange 5.5 post SP3 Information Store Patch 5.5.2652.42 - this patch corrects detection issues with GroupShield

For a list of attachments blocked by the Outlook patch and a general FAQ, visit this link .
Additionally, Network Administrators can configure this update using an available tool - visit this link for more information .

It is very common for macro viruses to disable options within Office applications for example in Word, the macro protection warning commonly is disabled. After cleaning macro viruses, ensure that your previously set options are again enabled.

Variants

Variants

N/A

All Information

Overview -

This is a virus detection. Viruses are programs that self-replicate recursively, meaning that infected systems spread the virus to other systems, which then propagate the virus further. While many viruses contain a destructive payload, it's quite common for viruses to do nothing more than spread from one system to another.

Characteristics

Characteristics -

Taiwan.Theatre is a macro virus. It infects .DOT and .DOC files. It only infects in the Taiwanese version of MS Word due to double byte construct of that software.

Symptoms

Symptoms -

The Taiwan.Theatre virus activates on the first of any month. On this date, the virus destroys the system harddrive.

On the 15th of any month, when Winword is executed, the virus displays a 'Taiwan Theatre Jokers' icon jumping on the screen. The display interrupts computer use, while the user is not able to click the mouse or type any keys. Word functions normally the remainder of the day.

Users of infected systems are not able to execute 'Close File' function, the virus causes Windows to display the following error message:

"WordBasic Err=7"
Insufficent Memory"

Method of Infection

Method of Infection -

Opening the infected document will directly infect the local Word Environment. This will result in the infection of all Documents created and opened on the system.

Removal -

Removal -

All Users :
Script,Batch,Macro and non memory-resident:
Use current engine and DAT files for detection and removal.

PE,Trojan,Internet Worm and memory resident :
Use specified engine and DAT files for detection. To remove, boot to MS-DOS mode or use a boot diskette and use the command line scanner:

Additional Windows ME/XP removal considerations

Users should not trust file icons, particularly when receiving files from others via P2P clients, IRC, email or other mediums where users can share files.

AVERT Recommended Updates :

* Office2000 Updates

* Malformed Word Document Could Enable Macro to Run Automatically (Information/Patch )

* scriptlet.typelib/Eyedog vulnerability patch

* Outlook as an email attachment security update

* Exchange 5.5 post SP3 Information Store Patch 5.5.2652.42 - this patch corrects detection issues with GroupShield

For a list of attachments blocked by the Outlook patch and a general FAQ, visit this link .
Additionally, Network Administrators can configure this update using an available tool - visit this link for more information .

It is very common for macro viruses to disable options within Office applications for example in Word, the macro protection warning commonly is disabled. After cleaning macro viruses, ensure that your previously set options are again enabled.

Variants

Variants -

N/A