Some computer users will remember that 6 March is Michelangelo's birthday. Why? Because of the Michelangelo virus, which activates destructively on that date. This year saw no activations reported to Yui Kee, and no reports of activations from anti-virus vendors. This is not a surprise; there were no reports last year, either. A major reason for this is that destructive viruses are suicidal - when they wipe out a hard disk, they also wipe out themselves, and call attention to themselves so that the victim (and friends) install or update their protection. Therefore, every 6 March the Michelangelo population culled itself, until today there are none left. Except maybe on a dusty floppy at the back of a desk drawer.
On 26 April 2001, we see the third annual activation of CIH. The first, in 1999, saw hundreds of thousands of computers affected; we had reliable reports for about 100 in Hong Kong. Last year, the numbers were much lower, with none in Hong Kong.
What should you do on 26 April? The same as every other day, make sure your anti-virus protection is installed, active and recently updated. Visiting an art gallery is an optional step.
What should you do if Michelangelo or CIH activate on your machine? The most valuable thing lost is the data. Contact us for a data recovery service, while results are not guaranteed most of the data can usually be retrieved with specialist tools.