After battling through the Badtrans worm last week, computer users are being hit today by yet another email virus, this one called Goner.
Experts described Goner as one of the fastest-spreading viruses they had seen to date. It is, however, simple to spot and if users delete the email their computers will not be infected.
The infected email has the word "Hi" as its subject line and the body text reads, "How are you? When I saw this screen saver, I immediately thought about you. I am in a harry (sic), I promise you will love it." Its attachment poses as a screensaver and is labelled "gone.scr".
Unlike more complex worms, such as last week's Badtrans which is still doing the rounds, the subject line, attachment and message of Goner do not vary. When users double click on the attachment, the infected email spreads itself to all contacts in a Microsoft Outlook address book.
Anti-virus companies have issued updates to block Goner, though users can also protect themselves simply by hitting the delete button.
Alex Shipp, spokesman for anti-virus service MessageLabs, said: "It's spreading with tremendous speed and thousands of users in Britain have already been sent it. The virus mass mails itself out through email and attempts to destroy anti-virus software on computers, which could prove extremely problematic for those unfortunate enough to receive it."
Goner was first detected yesterday morning, and experts believe it was created in Europe. The US, the UK and France are the worst hit of the 17 countries affected so far.
Mr Shipp said: "We had a handful of reports this morning but at mid-afternoon in the UK it went mad. We have had about 30,000 reports and the figure is rising."
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus, said: "This worm highlights the importance of being suspicious about anything that arrives unexpectedly in your inbox ... Even if the email appears to have come from a friend it still should not be automatically trusted."
A criminal investigation has now been launched in an effort to track down the person responsible for the virus.
