By EUGENE BINGHAM
Cyber viruses unleashed to mark the rollover to the year 2000 now appear to be the big danger to computers as the threat of the Y2K bug diminishes.
While New Zealand's Y2K Readiness Commission is remaining on standby until businesses reopen, confidence that the bug is beaten rose yesterday when markets around the world reported no serious problems.
But the commission warns people to beware of viruses lurking in computers that have yet to be switched on.
"People need to be cautious when they are opening up their e-mails," commission deputy chairman David Henry said yesterday.
"Watch out for attachments from people you don't know, and chain e-mails."
Mr Henry said no big problems had emerged so far, but he believed viruses might ambush computers in the hundreds of businesses returning to work tomorrow.
Some cyber-terrorists are said to have been competing to see who could devise the most destructive virus.
Internationally, Reuters reported that a string of viruses associated with Y2K had been identified.
A leading software company, Computer Associated International, named three: the Lucky 2000 virus, which runs on Microsoft Windows 95, 98 and NT platforms; Esmeralda.807, which causes a delay when a user opens a 32-bit Windows file; and the Spaces.1633 virus that harms the startup function of computers.
As for the millennium bug itself, computers experienced another smooth day yesterday.
Financial institutions in Asia opened glitch-free, and United States officials predicted that major markets and banks would not experience problems when they resumed trading after the holiday weekend.
Mr Henry said he was happy that New Zealand had cleared the January 1 hurdle so easily, and the commission was now focusing on tomorrow, when reopening businesses would put pressure on communications and power services.
Companies that have already reopened are not reporting any problems.
Retailers spoken to by the Herald yesterday said they had not noticed anything different.
A store manager for appliance retailer Noel Leeming said contingency plans had not been necessary.
"We have not had a single problem," said the manager, who noted that while some customers before December 31 had been apprehensive about how their appliances would survive, none had been in with problems since.
* Did the bug bite you? Got a video that will not record or a clock that stopped? Tell us on the news hotline, 0800-HERALD or send an email to: newsdesk@herald.co.nz.
After the bug come the viruses
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