Time to Call the Doctor "愛你"愛到毒死你！

In today's world, we rely on computers as never before. They are used for everything from ordering a pizza to running hospitals and military defense systems. Banking and credit card information is stored and accessed by computers. So what happens when a computer gets infected with a virus? One effect is that people's access to their e-mail accounts is cut off. A more serious possible consequence is that billions of dollars could be lost.

A virus is a computer program that copies itself onto other programs and infects them. Similar to an easily spread disease, a computer virus goes from computer to computer, either adding to or changing the tasks a program is designed to do.

The first computer viruses were created in the mid '80s and had varying effects. Some caused files to be deleted, or made the letters on the screen appear to fall off. Others displayed a specific message once the computer was turned on.

Viruses today are much more widespread and dangerous than ever before. Perhaps the most damaging to date has been the "I Love You" virus. "I Love You" appeared in May 2000 and has possibly been the most destructive virus in terms of monetary loss.

The virus is released when an attachment to a fake e-mail message is opened. By changing the names of files on computers, "I Love You" makes them difficult to access. It also searches for important personal information, including passwords, which it sends to a Web site for others to see.

It is estimated that more than 45 million people in 20 countries have had their computers infected by the "I Love You" virus. Some say the cost of repair and lost business has been more than US$10 billion.

If you own a computer, it is important to keep it in good health by installing an anti-virus program. If updated frequently, it will protect your e-mail access—not to mention your wallet.

在當今世界，我們前所未有地依賴電腦。從訂購比薩餅到管理醫院及軍事防御系統，計算機的使用范圍廣及各個層面。銀行業務及信用卡的資料都要靠計算機儲存和支取。假如計算機染上病毒會怎樣呢？一個影響是電子郵件帳戶的通路被切斷，另一個更嚴重的后果則是數十億的美元有可能丟失。

計算機病毒是一種計算機程序，它把自己的程序拷貝到其它程序上，從而傳染病毒。和容易蔓延的疾病一樣，電腦病毒由一個計算機傳到另一個計算機，增加或改變原程序所執行的任務。

計算機病毒首先在80年代中期被創造出來，造成不同程度的影響。有些使文件被刪除，或使屏幕上的字看起來往下掉。其它的則在電腦一開機就顯示特定的信息。

今天的計算機病毒比以前蔓延的更廣也更危險。到目前為止，最具破壞性的病毒也許就是“我愛你”病毒了。“我愛你”病毒于2000年5月首次出現，就金錢損失而言，它也許是毀壞性最強的病毒。

當假的電子郵件附件被打開時， 病毒就會被釋放出來。通過更改計算機中的文件名，“我愛你”病毒使計算機難以讀取文件。它也會搜尋密碼這類重要的個人數據，將其傳送到網站上讓其他人看到。

據估計，在20個國家中有4500萬人受到影響。他們的計算機遭到“我愛你”病毒的感染。有人說修理費及商業損失金額就已超過了一百億美元。

如果你有一臺計算機，給它安裝防毒程序，使其保持健康是很重要的。如果時常對防毒軟件進行升級，它將保障你能收取電子郵件，更不用說你的錢包了。