Apple warns of Windows virus in latest video iPods

Macworld UK - Apple Computer Inc. has warned Windows users that a very small number of its latest video iPods have a virus. Less than 1% of the devices are affected.

Just 25 reports concerning the problem have been received by Apple so far. The virus does not affect data on infected PCs.

Apple's technical support Web site warns: "We recently discovered that a small number -- less than 1 percent -- of the video iPods available for purchase after September 12 left our contract manufacturer carrying the Windows RavMonE.exe virus."

"The iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle and Mac OS X are not affected, and all video iPods now shipping are virus-free," company vice president Greg Joswiak told Macworld UK Tuesday night.

Joswiak explained how the virus infected the iPods: "As you're probably aware, the majority of iPod sales are made to Windows users, so we have some Windows terminals on our production line," he explained.

"We discovered that one of these computers was propagating this virus, fortunately less than 1% of video iPods were exposed to this Windows virus. The problem has been corrected, and all the video iPods we are now selling are free of the virus," he said.

The Windows machine that did the damage is used as "a final test station" in the quality control process, Joswiak explained.

"It appears this virus propagates to a PC when an iPod containing the virus is double-clicked in Windows Explorer. Technically it's a worm. It does not spread through a network."

Asked whether this implied that someone at the production center had infected the machine, Joswiak said, "We're not getting into details. There was an exception in the process that we have now remedied.

"We believe we have a process to make sure this doesn't happen again," he added.

"It's the first time this has happened to us, and we wanted to be very open and upfront about what's happening. We first learned of this a week ago," he added. "Since then we have been working around the clock on this, discovering the root cause."

"We understand that this virus/worm doesn't do any data damage to the Windows machine, but that it can lower the security settings of an infected PC," he explained. "It should be removed from any infected machine."

The virus propagates itself using mass storage devices. It affects only Windows computers. Up-to-date antivirus software "which is included with most Windows computers should detect and remove it," the company explained.

"As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it," Joswiak said.