The message displays if the boot time was exactly divisible by 8. On many IBM PC clones at the time, boot times could vary, so the message would display randomly (1 time in 8). On some IBM PC compatible machines or on original IBM PC computers, the boot time was constant, so an infected computer would either never display the message or always display the message. An infected computer with a 360K disk and a 20MB or less hard disk, which never displayed the message was one of the first examples of an asymptomatic virus carrier, which would work with no impediment to its function, but which would infect any disks inserted into it.