A generic virus scanner for C++

A virus detection tool is described. It is a generic virus scanner in C++ with no inherent limitations on the file systems, file types or host architectures that can be scanned. The tool is completely general and is structured in such a way that it can be easily augmented to recognize viruses across different system platforms with varied file types. The implementation defines an abstract C++ class, VirInfo, which encapsulates virus features common to all scannable viruses. Subclasses of this abstract class may be used to define viruses that infect different machines and operating systems. The generality of the mechanism allows it to be used for other forms of scanning as well