virus code is never executed - virus or not?

Hi,

consider the following scenario. A file contains (part(s)) of viruscode, 
but the entry point points to the acutal host code. Therefore, the virus
code is not being called. What should the virus scanner do?

- nothing. As per definition, the virus (code) never replicates, it's 
not a virus.
- report it as a "new/modified variant of <blah>", as the virus code is 
not complete/modified.
- report it as <blah> damaged" (or similar) as it contains virus code
but is not functional.
- report it as being infected with virus <blah>. As one may change the 
entry point to the virus code and the virus (still) may work (although
I'd say that's very unlike except probably for macro viruses).

I personally would vote for do nothing. Is there some common 
sense/practice for such a case?

TIA.

best regards,
Rainer Link



-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by: Perforce Software.
Perforce is the Fast Software Configuration Management System offering
advanced branching capabilities and atomic changes on 50+ platforms.
Free Eval! http://www.perforce.com/perforce/loadprog.html