Microsoft officials launched a last-minute reminder to Windows users Monday afternoon to prevent the spread of the MyDoom

Microsoft officials launched a last-minute reminder to Windows users Monday afternoon to prevent the spread of the MyDoom.B virus that's targeting its home page. MyDoom.B is a variant of the W32.Novarg.A@mm (MyDoom.A) e-mail virus -- which targeted the SCO Group Sunday -- that sends Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express users an official-looking email with a zip file attached. Once opened, the virus grabs the email addresses found in the program and forwards itself, while putting code in the user's system to enable a distributed denial of service attack. At a pre-determined time, the zombied machines then send page requests to the selected site. The attacks have already begun, according to network traffic monitoring site NetCraft, which shows Microsoft home page request spikes since roughly noon Monday. According to SCO officials and security experts, many MyDoom.A-infected computers with improperly-set times on their computers launched the DDoS attack early. The same appears to be happening to Microsoft. Microsoft officials are quiet on the specific steps they are taking to combat the virus. A spokesperson told internetnews.com users with infected machines should visit Microsoft's MyDoom virus page for details on removing the code if they don't have anti-virus software to do it for them.