Stoned (computer virus)

Stoned
Hex dump showing "Your PC is now Stoned!" statement at the last 512-byte sector of Master Boot Record
TypeComputer virus
SubtypeBoot virus
OriginNew Zealand
AuthorsUnknown
Technical details
PlatformDOS

Stoned is a boot sector computer virus created in 1987. It is one of the first viruses and is thought to have been written by a student in Wellington, New Zealand. By 1989 it had spread widely in New Zealand and Australia, and variants became very common worldwide in the early 1990s.

A computer infected with the original version had a one in eight probability that the screen would declare: "Your PC is now Stoned!", a phrase found in infected boot sectors of infected floppy disks and master boot records of infected hard disks, along with the phrase "Legalise Marijuana". Later variants produced a range of other messages.