Macro virus will delete all files in a user_s c: drive - but only in Japanese, Chinese versions.

A computer virus that forces users to play a taunting game of Russian roulette - named July killer, because it will delete all files on a user_s c: drive if the current month is July - has been found in Asia. But it will almost certainly cause few problems in the Western hemisphere. It can only infect computers running Microsoft Word in its Chinese or Japanese versions, according to virus company Data Fellows. Security firm Trend Micro Inc. issued a security alert Thursday describing the malicious code as a macro virus which spreads through infected Microsoft Word documents. Once an infected document is opened, according to Trend Micro, the virus checks to see if the current month is July. If it is, the game begins: A dialog box with Chinese text that translates as "A wake up call for the generations" pops up. If the user clicks "OK," a message appears that says, "You are wise, please choose this later again, critically" and "Congratulations." But if the user chooses "Cancel" three times, another message appears: "Stop it! You are so incurable to lose three chances! Now, god will punish you." Then the virus sets out to delete all files on the user_s c: drive, where most consumer store their files. It does this by opening the computer_s autoexec.bat file and adding the line "deltree/y c:\". The next time a user reboots, the PC deletes all files in the c: drive. But only Microsoft Word users exchanging or reading documents in non-English character sets are at risk. To contract the virus, a consumer must either: be using so-called double-byte version a version of Word, one that includes Kanji and other similar character sets; or be using a special "plugin" that enables and English version of Word to render the other character sets. Trend Micro, on its Web site, says the virus is a Chinese virus, and "Unless users are running Chinese Windows or frequently exchange word documents with Chinese Windows users, this virus is not considered an immediate threat."