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A new computer virus that acts as a clone of a virus that caused severe damage in June is spreading rapidly via e-mail, officials at security software maker Symantec Corp said. The virus, known as a “worm,” mimics the Worm.ExploreZip virus that infected computers worldwide four months ago. The worm is compressed using a program called NeoLite that some anti-virus software doesn’t detect, said Vincent Weafer, director of Symantec AntiVirus Research Center in Santa Monica. Symantec has received reports of the virus erasing files at nine of its large corporate clients within a few hours, Weafer said. The virus erases random files written using Microsoft Corp. software and sends itself to the authors of unread e-mails in a computer’s in-box.