In some instances there may be some truth in this criticism, although Norman tries to issue warnings only when we feel that a warning is really justified. Our Policy regarding virus alerts may be seen here . This warning does not imply that we suspect any new kinds of malicious programs to be published - even though that may of course happen at any time. It has to do with malicious programs, which have been it the wild for some time , and e.g. with payload coming up during April. Those which we consider as representing the most severe threats are mentioned below.
All links opens a separate browser window showing a more detailed technical virus description.
The most widespread variant of this virus has its payload 26 April each year. The result is data loss and in some instances the need to get new hardware to the affected computer. Norman issued an alert about this 14 March this year. Interestingly, this malicious program did not spread as fast as expected after the initial very fast propagation, and some commented that once more the antivirus industry did cry wolf without any animals in sight. However, recently Magistr has been picking up its speed with respect to spreading, and it is now among those most often reported.