ILOVEYOU facts for kids
The ILOVEYOU worm was a tricky computer virus that spread quickly around the world in May 2000. It was sent through email and looked like a simple text file. But when someone opened it, the worm would start to spread and cause problems on their computer.
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What Was the ILOVEYOU Worm?
The ILOVEYOU worm first appeared on May 5, 2000. It was a type of computer worm, which is a harmful program that can copy itself and spread to other computers. This worm was sent by email with the subject line "ILOVEYOU". The worm itself was attached to the email.
How the Worm Tricked People
The file attached to the email was named LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.txt.vbs. Many people didn't see the ".vbs" part of the name because of how Microsoft Windows was set up by default. This made the file look like a harmless text file, which usually cannot run programs or cause damage. However, the ".vbs" part meant it was a Visual Basic script, which could run code.
What the Worm Did to Computers
Once opened, the ILOVEYOU worm would start replacing most of the files on the computer. The exact damage could be different depending on the version of the worm, as it was easy to change. The worm was written using Visual Basic. It also used Microsoft Outlook, a popular email program, to send itself to more people.
The Worm's Big Impact
The ILOVEYOU worm spread very quickly. It infected over 45 million computers around the world. This caused a lot of trouble and led to an estimated $5.5 billion in damages. It was one of the most widespread computer worms in history.
See also
In Spanish: ILoveYou para niños
