Creativity around viruses has changed a lot and has moved to different places, and the golden age of DOS viruses has become a museum of what it meant for a computer to be infected. To illustrate this, we put together a video gallery with the most striking DOS viruses in action.
We now see sophisticated, almost invisible viruses that, beyond seeking or threatening to destroy the virtual references of our partitions and ruin our operating system, aim to steal data that can be used to take money from us. Earlier, when a programmer wanted to let the user know that their computer's life was under their control, they programmed flashy effects and actions, so that their victims would not be indifferent to the danger looming over them.
https://old.neoteo.com/los-peores-virus-pc-todos-los-tiempos/Behind this adventure was a futile struggle of egos and reputations, which among hackers (and later among crackers) meant creating better loading screens or virus actions. So images, videos, music, strange effects and much more appeared on the user's screen, who would leap from their chair and watch in panic as the supernatural mastery of the programmers put their system in check. Some viruses were very destructive, others were meant to scare or merely to reach someone else's computer. Here we have gathered 14 of the most striking DOS viruses in action, so you can see what an infected computer went through.
Virus.DOS.Kuku
The virus infected COM files and had a one in eight chance of filling your screen with colored lines saying Kuku!
Virus.DOS.Phantom1
The Phantom1 virus infects EXE and COM files when they are executed. Its loading screen occurs after about 20 minutes of keyboard inactivity, when a skull is drawn and a message from the author is shown.
Casino DOS Virus
The Casino virus from Malte makes you play a jackpot game to see if you can save your data. If you win, you're safe, and if you lose, say goodbye to everything. Surprise: You never win.
LSD.com DOS Virus
The LSD virus shows a Super VGA screen on a psychedelic journey. Colorful destruction.
Hymn DOS Virus
The Hymn virus plays part of the national anthem of the Soviet Union and renders your computer unusable until you restart. Activation is random.
Markt DOS Virus
The Markt virus activates on September 9, when it formats drive C: and all other drives on the network. Due to a bug in its code, it only manages to format the local C: drive. But the scare is huge.
Skism.com DOS Virus
The Skism virus activates on Friday the 25th of each month, when a full-screen message is displayed and the machine hangs.
Techno.com DOS Virus
Techno activates randomly one in ten times, showing a video and music effects. Additionally, when a key is pressed, the message 'Don't touch the keyboard' is displayed.
Math Test DOS Virus
The terror: a virus and on top of that a math test. Created by the 'youth against McAffee', the virus infects all .COM and .EXE files and every time you want to do something, you have to answer a simple math question.
Skynet.com DOS Virus
The Skynet virus activated randomly and wrote a message of the day for the user, then left the machine unusable until reboot.
Selectronic DOS Virus
The Selectronic virus makes death walk from side to side of your computer and activates only on Friday the 13th. What's interesting is that besides the message that says "Countdown to extinction", the virus doesn't do anything to the files and resides in the PC's memory.
Vienna DOS Virus
This variant of the Vienna virus activates during the Christmas season infecting all COM files. The virus hangs the machine, so say goodbye to that MS-DOS installation.
Implant DOS Virus
The Implant DOS virus shows an incredibly high-quality image for MS-DOS and then simply goes on to erase all references of your hard drives. (Lightly NSFW)
Suicide DOS Virus
It was written by Phalcon / Skis and infected all .COM files, in addition to showing different messages in its activation routine. It could be disinfected by pressing the D key.
These have been the most striking DOS viruses in action. If after watching all the videos you've chosen a favorite, tell us which one in the comments. You can also share your experience with a DOS virus and how you handled the situation.
