Java Virus

[tormond]

Hello web4libbers,

I've been scanning all the virus messages to find any mention of the
java virus. I get the sense that most people want to put an end to this
topic so I apologize for keeping it alive. 

I work in a small consulting firm library and one of our consultants
recently lost all of his data on his laptop except for some html files.
Tech Support said that it was due to a Java virus but gave no other
information about it. I did a little research and found information
about this virus dated May 1996 involving Java applets and Netscape
version 2.0. From all reports I could come up with Netscape seems to
have fixed the problem and found no link to Netscape 3.0 (what we use).
According to the consultant, he came in one morning, turned on his
laptop and couldn't boot. He wasn't in Netscape or any other program.

There is some skeptism on the part of the consultant (myself included)
that this Java virus was the problem. We run Win95 on PCs and laptops
with Netscape 3.0. Since he lost most of his data and since I am in
charge of Internet training and configuration I am anxious to get a more
varied perspective. 

Thanks in advance.
Tracey Ormond
CSC Weston Group
Business Research Group
tormond at csc.com