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 Macro‑  viruses.   Macro-  viruses are piggybacked on documents created by office applica-

tions such as Microsoft Word and Excel. Office software such as this has a  macro-  facility 

to help users record common actions. One of the  best-  known  macro-  viruses is ‘Melissa’. 

This struck in March 1999 and it marked a new trend as it combined a  macro-  virus with 

one that accessed the address book of Microsoft Outlook to email itself to new victims. 

This was one of the fastest spreading viruses in history and it is estimated that it affected 

over a million PCs. In 2002, the author of the ‘Melissa’ virus, David L. Smith, was sen-

tenced to 20 months in prison in the US.