Asus Admits That a Virus Shipped With Some Eee Box Mini PCs

Asus has admitted to its Japanese customers that some of the Eee Box B202 mini PCs they shipped included a recycled.exe virus loaded on the D: partition. When the drive is opened, the virus (identified by Symantec as the W32/Usbalex worm) attempts to infect the C: drive and any removable drives attached to the system. So far, Asus has not confirmed that the problem is limited to PCs released in Japan, and they have offered no explanation about how the virus may have appeared on the drive. However, Reg Hardware believes they can confirm that other areas may be affected. Either way, it is probably a good idea to run a check if you picked one up. [Reg Hardware]