INITIALIZING... THIS PROGRAM IS DESIGNED TO TAKE MAXIMUM ADVANTAGE OF SYSTEM STORAGE CAPABILITIES. THE TEST WILL ONLY TAKE A FEW SECONDS... WAITING.... WARNING: DO NOT TURN OFF COMPUTER DURING SELF TEST! As she was trained, she heeded her computer's instructions. She watched and waited as the computer's hard disk whirred and buzzed. She wasn't familiar with the message, but it sounded quite official, and after all, the computer is always right. And she waited. Some few seconds, she thought, as she dove into her second donut. And she waited through the third donut and another mug of too sweet coffee. She waited nearly a half an hour, trying to oblige the instruc- tions from the technocratic box on her desk. The Mac continued to work, so she thought, but the screen didn't budge from it's warning message. What the hell, this has taken long enough. What harm can it cause if . . . She turned the power switch off and then back on. Nothing. The computer did absolutely nothing. The power light was on, the disk light was on, but the screen was as blank as a dead televi- sion set. Mary called Violet Beecham, a co worker in another office down the hall. "'Morning Vi. Mary." Violet sounded agitated. "Yeah, Mare, what is it?" "I'm being a dumb bunny and need a hand with my computer. Got a sec?" Mary's sweetness oozed over the phone. "You, too? You're having trouble? My computer's as dead as a doornail. Won't do anything. I mean nothing." Violet was frustrated as all get out and the concern communicated to Mary. "Dead? Vi, mine is dead too. What happened to yours?" "Damned if I know. It was doing some self check or something, seemed to take forever and then . . .nothing. What about yours?" "Same thing. Have you called MIS yet?" "Not yet, but I'm getting ready to. I never did trust these things. Give me a typewriter any day." "Sure Vi. I'll call you right back." Mary looked up the number for MIS Services, the technical magi- cians in the basement who keep the 3100 Congressional computers alive. "Dave here, can I help you?" The voice spoke quickly and indif- ferently. "Mary Wallstone, in Gompers office. My computer seems to be having a little problem . . ." Mary tried to treat the problem lightly. "You and half of Congress. Listen . . .is it Mary? This morning is going to be a slow one. My best guess is that over 2500 com- puters died a quick death. And you know what that mean." "No, I don't..." Mary said hesitantly. "It means a Big Mac Attack." "A what?" "Big Mac, it's a computer virus. We thought that Virus-Stop software would stop it, but I guess there's a new strain out there. Congress is going to be ordering a lot of typewriters and legal pads for a while." "You mean you can't fix it? This virus?"