Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 6, 1993 TAG: 9303060133
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Medium
THIS TIME AROUND, COMPUTER USERS READY FOR VIRUS
Computer users around the country armed themselves against today's expected appearance of Michelangelo, the villainous electronic virus. Unlike last year, though, no one was panicking.The data-erasing miniprogram, which lies dormant until the artist's birthday on March 6, caused panic last year, although fears of a global cataclysm turned out to be exaggerated.
This year, many computer owners took precautions by checking their machines for the rogue program, which works its mischief on IBM-compatible personal computers. Computer experts weren't anticipating any disasters.
"I think there's very little concern this year," said David Stang, a computer virus expert with the International Computer Security Association in Washington, D.C.
The virus, created by an unknown prankster, spreads almost as easily as the common cold, transferred from computer to computer by floppy disks. Each time one of these software-storage devices is inserted into an "infected" PC, the computer is instructed to add a copy of the virus to it. When that disk is placed in a clean computer, that machine becomes infected.
One reason for the relative calm this year was the calendar.
Most personal computers in offices are turned off on Saturdays. Big computers that keep running aren't threatened by the virus, computer experts say.
When workers return Monday and turn on their PCs, "the virus will wake up and say it's not the 6th of March and won't do anything," said John McAfee of McAfee Associates, a leading provider of virus-killing software based in Santa Clara, Calif.
Last year, despite all the warnings, Michelangelo still managed to destroy files on thousands of PCs.
One victim was the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, where the virus erased files at a biotechnology research laboratory. Fortunately, the users had duplicated their data on floppy disks.
This year, the school prepared by alerting faculty and students about the virus and advising them how to get their computers checked and cleaned. The school also installed devices that automatically scan computers for viruses when the power is turned on, said Paul Hassen, a school spokesman.