summery

    As people returned to work yesterday, the "love letter" computer virus, which was discovered on May 4 in Hong Kong, began to disturb people once again.

    Because of carelessness or poor information about the "I love you" computer virus, thousands of people who hurried to check their e-mails after a long holiday found that "I love you" files could copy themselves and destroy computer pictures and video files.

    Tian Yakui, a computer anti-virus expert with Beijing Rising, an anti-virus software manufacturing company, said that more than 1,000 people had called his company for technical support.

    "Most of them did not get virus warnings from the media," Tian said.

    Computer systems around the world were infected last Thursday as the computer virus, proclaiming "I LOVE YOU" in the e-mail subject line, overwhelmed networks and burrowed into computer hard drives, destroying files containing valuable photos and videos.

    China's media have repeatedly issued alarms about the virus since it was discovered, warning Internet surfers not to open the files with "I love you."

    With most people not at work during the seven-day holiday, the virus did not spread fast.

    "Today is a real busy day. Besides more than 1,000 phone calls for support, some 200 people have come to our offices asking for help," Tian said.

    "We could only help delete those infected files, but we could not restore them, since those original files had been totally covered by computer bugs."

(China Daily)