It’s always cold and flu season in the computer world. Viruses are a fact of life for any computer connected to the outside world, and even AntiVirus software is no guarantee of a healthy computer, but knowledge is an important key to prevention. A relatively new site, called Viruslist.com, is an excellent source of information.
Although Symantec, the maker of Norton Anti-Virus, does a pretty fine job of providing information about viruses and other malware intruders, they’re not the only kid on the block. Security software vendor Kaspersky Labsmaker, who produce their own Anti-Virus software, have created Viruslist.com, an information and help centre which bills itself as ‘the biggest virus encyclopedia’.
At Viruslist.com, you’ll find a plethora of information on viruses, with entries sorted into categories of viruses and other nasties, ranging from DOS file viruses to macro viruses to Internet worms. There are even sections on Palm Viruses (just one of those exists so far, according to Viruslist.com) and virus hoaxes. The encyclopedia describes both the category and specific known examples of each.
Viruslist.com also provides updates on the latest virus threats confronting computer users, in the form of virus alerts, a monthly top-20 virus list (a Billboard-style chart that tracks virus ‘popularity’), and virus-related news stories. There’s even a calendar section that lets you check which viruses are designed to unleash their payloads on a given day.
And early today, from Sophos (another Anti-Virus company), discovery of the first virus capable of infecting JPEG graphic files.

Tim Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee, the MIT scientist credited with inventing the world wide web, this week became the first recipient of the Millennium technology prize. The Finnish award, which comes with a $1 million (U.S.) cash prize, is among the largest of its kind.
In awarding the prize, committee members acknowledged Berners-Lee’s contribution “for an innovation that directly promotes people’s quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development,” underlining the importance of the scientist’s decision to never strive to commercialize or patent his contributions to the Internet technologies he developed.
Berners-Lee is credited with creating the world wide web in the early 1990s while working for the Cern Laboratory, the European centre for nuclear research near Geneva, Switzerland. His graphical point-and-click browser, World Wide Web, was the first client that featured the core ideas included in today’s web browsers.
Future prizes will be awarded every two years.