Watch out, there's another virus

Watch out, there's another virus about. This one comes in e-mail with the subject line "Re:" from someone whose name begins with an underline, such as _fred@hotmail.com and so on. The payload is an attachment with a name such as YOU_ARE_FAT!.DOC.pif The worm is called W32/BadTrans B, which may remind the wary that we have had BadTrans A around since April without bringing the world to its knees. However, Messagelabs' Virus Eye shows its progress with a scary graph and says it has just displaced SirCam as the most common virus. Details of this bit of malware have been published by Sophos and other anti-virus vendors, and the fix has been available from Microsoft since March. Incidentally, I have not seen this virus myself, but Online-reader and computer consultant Richard Haselgrove alerted me when he received it from, oh dear, BT OpenWorld support. Well, did you notice that BT Internet was the most infected UK domain on Friday, on Messagelabs' list?