Saboteurs Create Windows 95 Virus

Software saboteurs have created the first computer virus specifically targeted at Microsoft’s Windows 95 program, British researchers say.

The virus can corrupt programs so that they no longer function, and then spread to other users’ machines, said Paul Ducklin, an analyst for the British company Sophos.

“It is the first virus we’ve seen that is written specifically for Windows 95,” said Ducklin, whose firm specializes in tracking down computer viruses.

“So, although it is not particularly well-written, Boza will go down in history,” Ducklin said.

Analysts have named the virus Boza after a Bulgarian liquor “so powerful that just looking at it will give you a headache,” Ducklin said.

Fortunately for the millions of users of Windows 95, the virus does not appear to be particularly contagious.

“To infect someone else’s machine, you would have to give them an infected program, and they would have to run it,” said Alan Solomon, chairman of S and S International.