Pikachu virus

Pikachu Virus

Common name	Pokey Virus
Aliases	mido
Type	Computer virus
Isolation	Hani
Operating system(s) affected	Windows 9x
Written in	Visual Basic

The Pikachu virus, sometimes referred to as Pokey Virus, was a computer virus believed to be the first computer virus geared at children due to its incorporation of Pikachu from the Pokémon series. The first person to find this virus was Mido and Hani. It arrived in the form of an e-mail titled "Pikachu Pokemon [sic]" with the email saying that "Pikachu is your friend." Opening the attached executable met users with an image of Pikachu, along with a message stating, "Between millions of people around the world I found you. Don’t forget to remember this day every time MY FRIEND." The virus itself appeared in the attachment to the email as a file named "PikachuPokemon.exe". It was often compared to the Love Bug, though the Pikachu virus was noted to be far less dangerous and slower in its dissemination.

Spread

The virus was mainly spread through Microsoft Outlook email attachments. The email containing the attached virus propagated through infected users by sending itself to all contacts in the user's Outlook address book.

Execution

When the user clicked on the attachment, PikachuPokemon.exe added the lines "del C:\WINDOWS" and "del C:\WINDOWS\system32" to the file "autoexec.bat" These commands would be executed at the next boot, attempting to delete two critical directories of the Windows operating system. However, users would be given a prompt asking whether or not they wanted to delete those folders. It is believed that this defect may be the reason that the Pikachu virus did not become more widespread and cause more damage to computer systems.

See Also

• Love Bug Virus
• Timeline of notable computer viruses and worms
• Computer virus