Virus writers are slushy at heart - naming the latest computer masher "Romeo & Juliet".

This nonetheless pesky virus arrives as an HTML email that contains an executable file entitled "My Romeo" and a compiled help file called "My Juliet" (a .chm attachment).

It works the same way as the "Love Bug virus", which ran riot across systems earlier this year, in that once executed it sends an email out to everyone in the recipient's address book. The Love Bug crippled networks around the world using this technique in May, and cost untold millions in damage.

But the difference, according to anti-virus software firm GFI, is that the Romeo & Juliet virus starts running without user intervention. No attachments need to be opened to start the virus spreading, only the email itself - the code is embedded in the body of the email. ®

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