HOW DO YOU CATCH THE LOVE BUG?

1.1 A bugged e-mail arrives in your in-box labeled ILOVEYOU.

1.2 The e-mail contains an attachment called LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT. This is where the virus is found and at this point it is still inactive.

1.3 When you open the attachment you launch a special programme which the bug uses to do two jobs.

1.4 It sends copies of itself to all the names in your computer's address book.

1.5 It copies itself onto music and picture files.

Read the text and put the events in the correct order.

2.1 Damian opened the I LOVE YOU e-mail.

2.2 The Your Music website closed down.

2.3 Somebody planted the Love bug in his computer.

2.4 A friend of Damian's from work phoned him.

2.5 The Your Music files were deleted.

2.6 Damian started his job at Your Music.

When eighteen-year-old Damian Hunter from Oklahoma started his first job as a computer programmer in an Internet music company in Los Angeles, he never realized quite what a big effect he would have on the company.

Damian joined Your Music in January and had only been in his new job for three weeks when his employers decided to send him away on a day's training course in business studies. Before leaving for the course, he went to the office to check if there were any letters or e-mails for him.

Damian switched on the computer and saw a list of messages, including one called "I LOVE YOU". That must be from Elsa, he thought. He was in a long distance e-mail relationship with a girl who had gone to work in Hong Kong. He didn't recognize the e-mail address but thought she had maybe sent it from a friend's computer.

He opened the e-mail and noticed it had an attachment. All it said was: "Can't resist a love message, can you? Have a nice day!" Oh well, he thought, maybe Elsa was just having fun. He didn't think any more about it and drove off to his course.

While he was driving home later that evening, he heard on the radio about the "Love bug", a computer virus that had caused chaos over the weekend. The bug was hidden in a romantic-sounding e-mail. When the e-mail was opened, vital files and information were deleted.

When he got home, there was a message on his answerphone from a work colleague. Apparently the "Love bug" had got into the Your Music computer network and had closed down the website for six hours. Damian felt very stupid. He knew it was his fault. He had ignored one of the golden rules of working for an Internet company: never open an e-mail attachment if you don't recognize the name of the sender! He was not looking forward to the next morning when he would have to admit his mistake to the President of the company. ( 2 100 )