(4/26/99)

The so-called Chernobyl computer virus knocked out dozens of systems in Salt Lake County. Today also happens to be the 13th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. News Specialist Angela An explains what happened, and how you can protect your computer.

"My computer just died when i turned it on," says Susann Tate. Within seconds, her computer read "fatal error," and then became what computer experts call "the blue screen of death."

Roger Chapman, an information systems technician, says, "When they re-boot, they get operation system not found."

In other words, the first 1 MEG of the hard drive becomes toast, with no way to re-boot.

For Susann Tate, "I came in with 10 thousand things to do... and can't do 'em."

The Chernobyl virus infected nearly 30 computers at the Salt Lake County Government center this morning.

With only a few files lost and public service unaffected, technicians reloaded each computer's hard drive, and included an updated version of virus protection software. The good news is the Chernobyl virus should affect computers only today. The bad news is computer users won't know until tomorrow if that's the case."

Chernobyl virus creators also programmed another version to strike computers on the 26th day of *any month.

But because Chernobyl was discovered last summer-- many antivirus companies developed free software to identify and destroy the virus ahead of time.

Bottom line... experts say protect your computer by consistently scanning new versions of anti-virus programs.

The Chernobyl virus affects computers using Windows 95 and 98.

Computers with Windows N-T are less susceptible, but you should be fine if your computer has an updated virus protection system.