ILoveYou virus cripples networks world-wide; Macs are not directly at risk

ILoveYou is the name of a new Melissa-like email virus/worm. It spreads through Microsoft Outlook running on Windows. As such, it does not directly affect the Mac, unless you are running a Windows emulator. It has been spreading rapidly around the world, temporary forcing some government and corporate networks to shut down. The virus appears as an email message called "ILoveYou." It has an attachment which, if opened, activates the virus. It then may destroy some files on the infected drive as well as spreading itself by sending the message to addresses on the user's email address list. The latter action is what eventually clogs the network. A MacWEEK article and an AP story have more details. Mike McHargue (a network administrator) adds: "The virus is a Visual Basic script. I opened it using BBEdit. This virus is very dependent on Microsoft technology and a Mac port would be very difficult. The virus writes to the registry and depends on the registry keys it creates to run. It also depend on reading an Outlook (not Outlook Express) address book. After that it uses a simple loop to replicate itself to everyone in your address book." This F-Secure page provides additional technical background. There is also a CERT Advisory on this "Love Letter Worm." Update:< variants This TBTF Log page states: "Mutations are already in circulation. The first used the subject line fwd: Joke and an attachment named Very Funny.vbs; aside from the name change it's identical to VBS/LoveLet.A." Another< variation is an untitled message that contains the text "Thanks for your purchase!" (Thanks, Monty Solomon.) Update: Fixes For those PCs already infected with the worm, there are numerous fixes now available. For example, the McAfee site has a file for the "detection and removal of three known< variants."