Talk:Melissa (computer virus)

A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on March 26, 2004, March 26, 2006, March 26, 2007, and March 26, 2009.

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Fredrik Björck, the football player?[edit]

The article links to Fredrik Bjorck as being key in discovering the author. The referenced source says: "Richard M. Smith, president of software tools developer Phar Lap Software Inc., and Fredrik Bjorck, a Swedish PhD student at Stockholm University's Department of Computer and System Sciences, have tracked down the virus writer to at least one specific Web site". Now I'm not certain that hte Fredrik Björk wikilinked in this article and the referenced person in the source is the same person. I found www.bjorck.com that made me think the football player and de discoverer are not the same person so until proven they are the same person, I removed the wikilinks. Can anyone confirm this? Felsir 13:23, 26 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Virus or Worm?[edit]

Shouldn't this be listed as a virus? it replicates and attaches to Word. Sephiroth storm (talk) 19:06, 28 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A virus is a program that replicates, on a computer, without the user's explicate permission. A worm is a virus that replicates from one computer to another. Melissa was a worm, which is a subset of virus. [[User:dschrader 16 July 2009] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dschrader (talk • contribs) 18:10, 16 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A worm is not a virus. A worm is a self-replicating program that uses a network to send copies of itself to other nodes on a network and tend to impact network efficiency. A virus however infects a file and requires another program as a transmission method. Melissa requires Outlook Express and that you open not just the e-mail but also the attached Microsoft word file so that the macro will execute and Melissa can mass mail itself. It does not merely send itself over the network by itself. Therefore it is a virus. It actually mentions this in much truncated form in the beginning of the article itself.(Drizzt380 (talk) 07:05, 24 July 2009 (UTC))[reply]

New sources?[edit]

A few of the sources for this page are way out of date and some of the information on the page is wholly erroneous and not listed on any of the citations. Definitely in need of a referential overhaul. 66.99.172.59 (talk) 21:04, 10 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

MOS:TENSE[edit]

Chaheel Riens, "subjects that are dead or no longer meaningfully exist" seems to apply here. Drmies (talk) 15:06, 25 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I disagree there - to draw an analogy whilst Smallpox is described in the past tense, Polio is in the present tense. I think Melissa still "meaningfully" exists - inasmuch as digital data can be said to exist. There's this article from 2019 that discusses Melissa in some detail and the impact.

Remove Template?[edit]

I think adequate context has been added after the page has been overhauled. Is it enough to remove the banner message? CybersecChloe (talk) 21:55, 30 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]