From...

April 8, 1999
Web posted at: 12:07 p.m. EDT (1607 GMT)

by Nancy Weil

(IDG) -- IBM has discovered that several thousand of its Aptiva computers were exposed to the CIH virus, which may cause an infected machine to stop working when its internal calendar reaches April 26.

Aptiva PCs with model numbers 240, 301, 520, and 580 manufactured between March 5 and 17, 1999, and sold in the United States may contain CIH, according to IBM representatives. The virus spreads when an executable file is transferred from one PC to another. IBM has contacted retailers and given them information about the virus to make sure that Aptiva PCs already in stores are not infected, the company says.

The company has also contacted users who have registered Aptivas that might be infected and other users whose current addresses it has. IBM is sending those users a copy of an IBM Antivirus Update CD, which will look for the CIH virus and clean it up if the computer is infected.

Users can determine whether their computer might be infected by checking a sticker on the back of the system. The sticker bears the Underwriters Laboratory logo and the designation MFG DATE. The computer may be infected if that designation is followed by the codes AM909, AM910, or AM911, IBM says.

Additional information and help is available online at IBM's Web site (link below).