Julia Roberts worm causes havoc

A new worm is using Julia Roberts, star of blockbuster Runaway Bride, to charge towards your computer and run roughshod over your email system.

The MyLife-M (W32/MyLife-M) worm, which distributes itself via email with the subject line "FW: Julia Roberts", claims to be a screensaver of the Hollywood actress caught in compromising scenes in the lavatory.

Anti-virus company Sophos, which detected the worm, said that several users have reported being hit.

By launching the screensaver the worm forwards itself to all contacts in the infected computer's address book. If the time is between 50 and 59 minutes past the hour, the worm attempts to delete files from the hard drive.

Graham Clueley, senior technology consultant for, Sophos, said: "Viruses often use celebrities to lure innocent but curious computer users. If you're not careful with what programs you run on your PC, you could be flushing your data down the toilet."

The MyLife-M worm can also forward itself posing as a screensaver of another celebrity - the Colombian pop singer Shakira.