New e-mail virus crops up in China

May 4, 2001

Beijing — A fast-spreading computer virus that is better equipped than predecessors to destroy data has turned up in China, the Guangming Daily said on Friday.

The "Happy Time" virus, as it is called in Chinese, is spread through e-mail and is more likely to spread than earlier computer viruses because it can infect a computer even if the user does not open the e-mail containing the virus, the newspaper said.

Like most computer viruses — often created as pranks by malicious software experts — the "Happy Time" virus can erase data from a computer's hard drive and crash the system, it said.

This virus is rigged to activate only when the month and day add up to the number 13, such as May 8 or June 7, the newspaper said.