The Happytime computer virus that China braced for on Monday might not spread as far as anticipated, but it could take its toll on more Chinese Internet Web sites and personal computers. The central government's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre logged 1,000 cases of virus on May 8, when it was due to surface.
Many computer can head it off by changing their computer's date.
The virus spreads via e-mail and infects files with the extensions .htm, .vbs, .hta, .asp, and .html. Infected computers may eventually break down completely. But computer users should remain on alert as more and more Chinese Internet portals get infected, according to the emergency centre. He declined to name the affected Web sites, but he said his agency has warned them to contain the viruses. The centre has also posted the names of several Chinese software developers such as Rising Computer and Kinsoft Software that can help kill the virus.