Apple accuses Windows for Video iPod Virus

On Tuesday, Apple Computer warned that some of its new video iPods shipped after September 12, 2006 are infected with a Windows virus, called Windows RavMonE.exe virus.

The Cupertino, California-based company, on its website, said that the company has discovered a small number of the Video iPods carrying Windows RavMonE.exe virus. The infected iPods accounted for less than 1% are among those which have been sold after September 12, 2006.

Apple said it has, so far, received fewer than 25 reports related to the bug. The company however apologized for the problem but, at the same time, placed some of the blame on the Windows operating system. Apple said on its website, "As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it."

RavMonE.exe is a mass storage virus that only affects Windows computers. This popular virus has infected only the video iPod and not the iPod nano, iPod shuffle and Mac OS X or any of the Apple computers.

As per the company statement, the iPods were infected by a Windows machine at a contract factory. The RavMonE virus does not cause any serious damage or data loss, but it does act as a trojan horse that could let other, more severe, viruses to infect the machine.

Greg Joswiak, Apple Vice President, told media that the bug was traced last week and said the team of experts has been working nonstop since then to identify the root cause of the problem.

The company said that up to date anti-virus software which is embedded with most Windows computers should detect and eliminate the virus.

About the process to eliminate the virus, the computer company suggests once an anti-virus application is installed the users should attach Video iPod to Windows computer and run the anti-virus program. If user’s Windows system is infected with this virus, an alert will be sparked and inform that the virus has been detected and either quarantined or removed. They should then use iTunes 7 to easily restore the software on their newly purchased Video iPod, Apple suggests.

Apple published links to free McAfee, Symantec and Windows software that will also remove the virus.

Video iPods are the second media player to get struck by a virus in the past week. On Friday, McDonald's stated that 10,000 MP3 players, carrying Trojan horse virus, were given away by the fast-food group. Apple denied the intentional placement of the virus on the iPods and said that all Video iPods now shipping are virus free.