Show Michelangelo may make Sistine f out of your software Co Connie ie Stowe Burrup Staff Writer the Ides of March BEWARE and if you operate a com corn computer puter be especially especial y cautious cautious' on March 6 A dormant computer virus named for Renaissance painter pai and sculptor Michelangelo o is reported to have been widely disseminated disseminated disseminated worldwide It was was first reported in Sweden last year Michelangelo is set to paint your system m black by destroying destroying destroying destroy destroy- ing whatever data it itcan can every March 6 the anniversary of the famous artists artist's birthday It has also been reported that more than five million computers worldwide may have already been affected by bythe bythe bythe the virus Data communications s specialists p e ci a Ii s sat at Uta Utah h S State t a te University and the University of Utah are involved in a public information drive to alert area users that Michelangelo Michelangelo gelo could be lur lurking in their systems waiting to pounce The virus has been located in software used for everything everything everything every every- thing from accounting ng to academic research stated Miles Johnson computer specialist Johnson said that he has personally found it in ina a dozen places since last sum sum- mer Mary Lou Foley a lab aide in the College Center computer computer computer com com- puter l lab b said on March 2 I In the first 30 minutes today we found 3 viruses one of which was Michelangelo She added that these viruses are found on th the disks of typical students not just power users Michelangelo can only be spread by floppy disks Once inthe in inthe inthe the machine it infects every floppy disk used David Hoisve project dj director ector for the University of Utah computer center recommends a virus hunter called Prot F-Prot created by Frisk Software International It is isan isan an effective vaccine against Michelangelo Prot F-Prot is i in the public domain so it is free of cha charge ge and can be obtained from various computer bulletin bulletin bulletin bul bul- letin boards in Salt Lake val val- val val- ley A temporary ry solution is to not boot your com computer pu ter on March 6 This will give you a year to fo acquire virus hunter software Warning before March 6 back up your files |