http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9901/29/iworm-ent.idg/index.html

   Internet worm can crash corporate servers
                                       
   January 29, 1999
   Web posted at: 12:23 p.m. EST (1723 GMT)
   by Roberta Fusaro
   
   (IDG) -- A Helsinki, Finland-based data security firm is warning
   Netizens about a computer worm, called Happy99, that can send hundreds
   of copies of itself to the same newsgroups and E-mail addresses that
   an infected user is posting or E-mailing to.

Worms are *self* propogating, and do not rely on being attached
to *user* email.]
   
   According to Data Fellows Inc., users' PCs don't suffer ill effects by
   reading a Happy99 message in a Usenet newsgroup or in E-mail. When
   someone executes the Happy99.exe attachment, a fireworks display
   appears on his screen. Meanwhile, in the background, the worm alters
   the host computer's Internet configuration to keep track of all E-mail
   or newsgroup activity.
   
   The worm then spams itself to the same newsgroups and E-mail addresses
   to which a user posts. It also maintains a list of newsgroups to which
   it has sent a copy of itself.
   
   Data Fellows said the worm doesn't pose a threat to computer files in
   the way a virus would but warned that it could slow down or crash
   corporate E-mail servers because of the volume of messages involved.
   
   Original PC configurations can be restored by renaming the host
   computer's winsock32.dll file. In addition, Data Fellows has a patch
   available on its Web site at www.datafellows.com.