Almost all AV programs now have heuristics scanning. To further explain,
heuristics scanning "is similar to signature scanning, except that
instead of looking for specific signatures, heuristic scanning looks for
certain instructions or commands within a program that are not found in
typical application programs. As a result, a heuristic engine is able to
detect potentially malicious functionality in new, previously
unexamined, malicious functionality such as the replication mechanism of
a virus, the distribution routine of a worm or the payload of a trojan."
(Markus Schmall).

So along with detecting viruses by using "virus signatures", AV programs
also look for "certain instructions or commands within a program that
are not found in typical application programs." Possibly detecting your
*.bat files. While there is no golden AV program that detect all
suspicious programs, files and scripts -- and I do not want to continue
this thread with the "Best AV program" on the market, it should perform
heuristic scans to help locate these suspicious files/programs.

I hope this clears things up.

--
Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCDST, MCP, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW Assoc.,
CIW Certified Instructor



"BoaterDave" wrote in message
:

Thank you for your view, Ken.

.............. so if they *could* be, would they be identified by an
anti-virus scan?

I think not. You may know different - I'm still willing to learn!

Please see my response to Michael. Thank you.

David
_________________________________________________
"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote in message
...
Although it's possible that such
commands *could* be mailicious, there's nothing about their being in a bat
file that makes them so, and most bat files by far are completely
innoucuous.

Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
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