FIRST STRIKE OF VIRUS HITS COMPUTERS.Byline: Tom Abate San Francisco Examiner The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th Century. History 19th century The beginning of the Examiner is a topic of some controversy. If all went well Thursday morning, your personal computer ran just fine. But if you were among the unlucky few, a rare virus spread over the Internet may have erased your hard drive. The Hare virus, which was timed to do its destructive work Thursday and again Sept. 22, was so named because it displays the message ``Hare Krishna, hare hare'' on computer screens as it erases affected hard drives. Jimmy Kuo, virus expert with McAfee Inc. of Santa Clara Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. , said the virus could only affect users of Windows-based PCs who had downloaded programs over the last two months from three Internet news groups: alt.sex, alt.cracks or alt.crackers. ``Media coverage has been way overblown o·ver·blown v. Past participle of overblow. adj. 1. a. Done to excess; overdone: overblown decorations. b. ,'' Kuo said. ``I expect we're talking about a handful of people affected,'' estimated between 100 to 1,000 worldwide. McAfee, one of several firms that sells software to scan and protect against viruses, has a Web site (www.mcafee.com) where people can download software at no charge that Kuo said would detect and eliminate the Hare virus before its next eruption eruption /erup·tion/ (e-rup´shun) 1. the act of breaking out, appearing, or becoming visible, as eruption of the teeth. 2. Sept. 22. Charles Renert of Symantec Corp., which also sells virus-protection tools, said his firm has seen a half-dozen copies of the Hare virus since May, when it began appearing in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Europe, Russia and New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. . Renert said no one knows why the virus used the Hare Krishna chant, or the significance of the two dates, Aug. 22 and Sept. 22. Viruses spread when people share disks with infected files or download such programs off the Internet. |
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