‘Friday the 13th’ Electronic Virus Fails to Cause Dreaded Havoc : Computers: Only a handful of infections are reported from around the world and experts disagree if those are from the much-heralded threat.

The much-dreaded “Friday the 13th” computer virus, packing the potential to wipe out caches of data stored on millions of personal computers, failed to wreak the havoc that some expected, with only a handful of infections reported around the world Friday.

“It didn’t show up and we’re thankful for that,” said Mary Howlett, manager of office automation at a Hughes Aircraft Co. defense plant in Fullerton. “We did a lot of preparation ahead of time and were ready. It was a very good experience for us.”

Some experts doubted whether those problems that did pop up were actually from the Friday the 13th virus strain, or similar electronic infections that plague personal computers.

“There were no confirmed sightings of Friday the 13th,” said Arthur Hill, a spokesman for International Business Machines, whose computers were among the primary targets of the virus. However, other sources claimed there were some certified outbreaks both in Europe and the United States.

According to one report, the virus was discovered in about 10% of the personal computers in the Micro Resource Center at the University of Illinois in Urbana. The virus was found and contained before it spread to other machines, authorities said.

In London, the virus apparently struck five or six computers at the Royal National Institute for the Blind before steps were taken to halt its spread.

Winn Schwartau, owner of a computer security company in Nashville, Tenn., said he had been contacted by more than a dozen companies, including some with hundreds of PC installations, that claimed to have been struck by the virus. However, Schwartau, whose security products sell for upwards of $600, declined to name the firms and his comments could not be independently verified.

Although obviously cheered by the outcome, computer security experts said they could not decide whether to credit the tremendous advance precautions taken by corporations to screen the virus, or whether to believe that the extent of virus’ spread had been blown out of proportion by those hoping to cash in on the paranoia and insecurities it aroused in computer users.

“It was a dud,” said John McAfee, executive director of the Computer Virus Industry Assn. and an outspoken critic of the latest flurry of anti-virus activities. “It was blown way out of proportion.”

The Friday the 13th virus generated unprecedented publicity and activity since its discovery about six weeks ago. The virus, created in Northern Europe earlier this year, is considered especially pernicious because it can wipe out the instructions governing how information is stored on the hard disks of certain PC models, rendering their contents completely inaccessible.

The virus was aimed at IBM personal computers and compatible models, which account for about 90% of the estimated 35 million personal computers now in use.

Electronic viruses are software programs that are deliberately inserted in legitimate programs. In addition to containing hidden instructions that can cripple the operations of the computer, these rogue programs are capable of reproducing themselves endlessly, either through computer networks or the sharing of infected computer disks.

Because rumors of the virus began circulating six weeks ago, many corporations and individuals were able to screen their machines well before the virus was set to trigger at midnight Thursday.

An IBM spokesman said the company had received more than 1,700 calls on its toll-free hot line set up to advise customers. Ashton-Tate, the Torrance software publishing house, checked all of its PC installations last week, and security officials at Caltech screened campus machines several weeks ago.

Many computer users at Hughes Ground Systems Group in Fullerton, a sprawling defense plant with about 4,000 IBM-compatible personal computers, also took precautions against the virus. And the company was happy with the results, Howlett said.

Hughes’ computer specialists distributed copies of a virus-detecting software program provided by IBM to hundreds of PC users. They were also encouraged to make backup copies of any data stored in their PCs, Howlett said.

Daniel Bigos, manager of microcomputer services at UC Irvine, said none of the campus’ several thousand personal computer users reported signs of the virus.

“We took a very laid-back approach to this,” Bigos said. “Most of the information we read about this indicated there was a very low probability” of infection by the virus.

But there’s at least one fellow in New York who is still wishing he could blame his computer problems on the virus.

It seems that when Charles Brimmer, the New York bureau chief for the London Times, turned on his spanking new IBM personal computer Friday morning, he discovered that its hard disk instructions had been eradicated, just as the Friday the 13th virus would have done. However, the virus did not leave its traditional tell-tale message notifying the owner that he had been zapped.

Nonetheless, Brimmer wants to believe he was struck by the dreaded virus.

“It happened just as I was writing a story about computer crime,” he said. “It could be pure chance. But I kind of hope it was the virus. It makes a better story.”