I feel bad for what Akira Sasabe of Generation 7. My AOL went down a few weeks ago. I lost bookmarks, filing cabinet information, and some important addresses, and that was annoying enough. So, my sympathies for everyone who has experienced what Akira states in his above email to Dr. James. All of our information has been saved to two different disks. This is just in case one disk becomes infected with a virus we will always have a backup. I know that the disk is supposed to be the back up, but with the evolution of so many viruses of many different capabilities, I would rather be safer than sorry.

I have not personally experienced a virus' wrath, but from what Mr. Sasabe is describing, he has. Computer viruses do worry me, but I take precautions against infecting my computer. I never download any attachments from emails even if they are from my family. I never download anything off of the internet. My computer has a virus checker that my husband downloaded for free. I said that I do not download stuff, but he does. My brother has been hit with something that we call a virus. We are not sure what it was, but he was downloading information, which he frequently does, and his system died. He told me that some of the circuits in the mother board burned up from an overload. Whether this is true or not, it is the closest I come to discussing any viruses personally.

For every advantage of technology, there seems to be two disadvantages. Computer attack tools are necessary for those who are interested in staying in the forefront of business or news, but they do not need to be destructive or annoying. What happened to the "good ol' days" where hackers simply went in, looked around at the information, and then left. Our society boasts the highest crime rate, the highest teenage pregnancy rate, and the highest divorce rate. There seems to be a general lack of respect for others and their property and affect. I do not see the purpose of "blocking out legitimate traffic." Are they trying to sabotage the government or the education system? Stories like these make me insecure about using the internet for business transactions and banking. It makes me nervous to know that someone is watching my every move. I don't like it in this physical space, nor do I like it in cyber space.

The name "computer virus was coined by Fred Cohen in 1984. Prior to that these self replicating computer programs were called "rabbits" in the 1960's and "worms" in the 1970's. Symantec defines a computer virus as "a piece of software designed and written to adversely affect your computer by altering the way it works without your knowledge or permission." It may be damaging and it may just be annoying. Although viruses are designed to infect software, the affects on that software can make it seem as if your monitor, printer or other hardware is not working properly or at all.

The purpose of a virus is to drive the user of the infected software/computer system crazy. They lock up systems and destroy software. Viruses have no purpose other than possibly destroying a person's hard work and property. Not all viruses are damaging. Viruses can create traffic jams on the internet.

The virus is a computer program written in code which is attaches itself to specific programs or documents. Once the virus gets into your computer, then the trouble begins. The virus then carries out its job. That could mean erasing files or creating new files that will make noises when you touch a particular button. Another way viruses work is by lying dormant in your hard drive or on a file and waiting until a specific date appears on your system. On that particular date, it may erase any applications that you use.

Viruses spread through infected floppy disks. I give you my disk to borrow, and when you put it into your computer, the virus leaps forth into your system. You may use, as Mr. Asabe did, an infected computer which can infect your disk. Another thing that you should do cautiously, in downloading from the internet. Over 16% of viruses are transmitted this way. And finally, NEVER, NEVER, EVER download any e-mail attachments. E-mail attachments are the way that 26% of today's viruses travel.

Black Monday - on Mondays, a counter counts down from 240 each time a file is infected. When zero is reached, a low-level format of the hard disk is performed. Written by a Malaysian student.

Brain Virus - Beginning in Lahore, Pakistan, this boot sector virus replaces the boot sector of a floppy disk with its own code and moves the original boot sector further up the disk. While the virus is in memory the boot sector looks normal, as the virus redirects any attempt to look at it and displays the original boot sector instead. The virus has no ill effects other than slowing down the floppy disk drive and making 7Kb of memory unavailable to DOS.

Chernobyl - It strikes on the 26^th of any month, but appears more frequently on April 26^th , the anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. On this date, the viruses and there are three known variations stop the computer from being able to boot.

W97M/Ethan - This fast moving macro virus infects documents and templates once the infected document is closed.

Melissa - The most recent virus to make the news as of April 1999 is a Word97 Macro virus that spreads through e-mail. Once a resident in mail servers, the Melissa virus spreads as an e-mail attachment with the header "Important Message From [registered user's name]." As innocent recipients click on the attachment, the virus sends itself to the first 50 addresses in the personal address book. The virus was annoying and blocked systems for a few days. It even hit government agencies and utility companies.

Michelangelo - This boot sector virus began in Asia in 1991 and infects the partition sector of the hard disk when booted from an infected floppy disk. The virus then infects any floppy disk accessed when the virus is memory resident. It would infect the computer on March 6^th by writing garbage on all tracks of all cylinders.

Stoned - Has many variations. New Zealand, Stoned, Bloody!, Marijuana, Australian, Hawaii, Hemp, Sanded, San Diego, Smithsonian, Sex, Brunswick, Hong Kong, Monkey, Monkey 2, Epbr, Lisa2, Whit, NOP, Stonehenge, and W-Boot is also a boot sector virus. On most systems it will only periodically display a message "Your PC is Stoned. Legalise Marijuana."

The Trojan Horse - This is a program type that is malicious, and the user is unaware. It is not self-replicating like a virus, but it can be very damaging. The Trojan Horse disguises itself as a legitimate program and when it is executed, it secretly damages your computer files and software.

 E-mail chains that threaten the recipient were first introduced in early the late 1990's but now dominate e-mail systems. These emails claim that hackers have targeted you, in particular. They have reported that they will infect your computer with a virus, steal your password, charge phone sex to your credit card, release your social security number, permanently kick you off the Internet, and so on and so on. If, however, you forward the chain letter to 10 or 15 of your closest friends within the next 30 minutes, you will be spared these maladies. Your ten friends will thank you for sharing this with them, and they too will want to appease the evil hacker and send this message to 10 or 15 of their friends, and the cycle continues.

Hoaxes may be created out of a desire to create fear and havoc, but hoaxes get propagated by people out of ignorance. Fearing the messages within the e-mails or the messages and it is so easy to just click a few buttons to send the e-mail to your 50 closest friends is how these hoaxes are propagated 10 fold. Society as a whole fears hackers and after reading that if "you don't send this to?.then you will have bad luck" or "?then your computer will crash and die,"you do what they say because you may not know that the originator cannot track the e-mails.

Computer viruses exist and they should be a kind reminder that for every advance made in technology, or in any field of study, that there will be those people who are interested in challenging the system and trying to beat the system. We need to be prepared for such occurrences as it is human nature to be malicious and evil. There will always be those who feel it is necessary to push the limits at any expense, even the safety and security of others.

As we are trying to create computers that are more affective and human-like, I feel that viruses are a necessary component in this process. Just as we laugh and cry and become ill, so will our computers. There are days when it just isn't acting right and we say there is a bad connection, or we say that the traffic must be bad. Couldn't your computer simply be out sick today?

Biological viruses are strands of DNA or RNA which are protected by a protein capsule. Biological and computer viruses both need hosts to replicate. They are invasive and use existing human and animal cells as hosts for replication of themselves. Destruction of the cells and the organism may result from viruses. Similarly, computer viruses invade the hardware components of our computer systems via the software. It may destroy the software as it replicates and eventually lead to a total system failure.

Sometimes biological viruses mutate over time and species, like cancer. I know that cancer is not a virus, but it acts similar to other viruses. Cancer can be either benign (non-lethal) or malignant in which case it usually kills its host. Either one is treated aggressively with chemotherapy and radiation therapy in order to control the spreading of the out of control cells. Similarly, computer viruses, also need aggressive anti-virus software to protect the computer. It is especially difficult to treat the computer and its software that has been infected with the polymorphic viruses which actually change some of its codes in order to escape detection from an anti-virus program.

I just received this mail on May 7, 1999. As a result of doing this report, I am no longer afraid of e-mails like this. "DO NOT OPEN ANY EMAIL FROM Sassyced@aol.com !!!!!!!!!! IT LOOKS LIKE A REAL EMAIL! She? ALSO HAS A PROFILE!! But it crashes all your system and will not open AOL unless you type your address and credit card information!!!!! and u cannot even delete this virus! The name off the virus is SASSY.SHS   Please send this mail to everyone in your buddy list!!!!!!!!!!!!"

This has all the signs of being a hoax. First?"send this mail to everyone?" Second, there are lots of words that are entirely capitalized. Third, the subject line was "Important Info."

I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about viruses. I thought there was only one type and I did not know that a virus can not physically damage the computer's hardware. I recommend that you install at least two different types of virus checkers on your system and always have at least two back up disks. Never rely on information on your hard drive. It could be erased or altered in a fraction of a second.