It's difficult to get people excited about old threats. Spreading out The most reported virus in 1999 was a macro virus called Laroux and was first detected in early 1996. Unusually for a widespread macro virus, Laroux infects Excel spreadsheets rather than a Word document. According to Mr Cluley, the key to long-lived viruses is being virtually invisible. Viruses which jump up and down with very destructive payloads draw attention to themselves and effectively kill themselves off, like lemmings.
Form does nothing, it just spreads, although it still causes damage by using up system resources.
Silent but deadly Whilst having your hard disk wiped by a virus may seem the computer equivalent of Armageddon, many companies and individuals keep back-up copies of information. Some of the most damaging viruses are not destructive at all, says Mr Cluley. In a way they are far more damaging than real viruses as they set off e-mail hurricanes and you can't disinfect a hoax. We had far more people seeking information on a hoax about a game involving Santa and his elves than any real virus. We are rather hoping that, depending on what the sentence is, it may send out a message to virus authors that this isn't cool and the authorities are prepared to pursue you.