Content

Distributed.net

Type
Program
SubType
-
Discovery Date
10/01/2002
Minimum DAT
4228 (10/09/2002)
Updated DAT
4541 (07/22/2005)
Minimum Engine
5.1.00
Description Added
12/05/2003
Description Modified
12/05/2003 2:23 PM (PT)

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Characteristics

This program is detected as a "potentially unwanted program". It is not a virus or trojan.  It is a legitimate program that has been misused by viruses and trojans by silently installing the program.  The application is a distributed processing application.

Authorized, and unauthorized, installations of the program can be seen by the creation of the files DNET.EXE and DNET.INI.  A registry key pointing to the application is created:

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Distributed Computing Technologies, Inc. "MRUClient" = %Application Path%\DNETC.EXE

Unauthorized installations may be noted by investigating the DNET.INI file.  The id field should contain a known email address if the installation was authorized.

Users who would like to check for the presence of potentially unwanted programs on their system should run the command line scanner with the /PROGRAM switch.  Please note that VirusScan 7, and higher, has an option that enables users to detect this kind of program automatically (see below).

Aliases

Aliases

    N/A