A malicious program that masquerades as a Web page or HTML e-mail has dire consequences for those who fall for its ruse, antivirus experts said this week. Known as Trojan.Offensive, the program takes advantage of a 10-month-old flaw in Microsoft's version of the Java Virtual Machine to overwrite critical system settings--called the registry--leaving Windows computers unusable. The operating system on the victimized PC must be reinstalled or repaired through an arduous process. "No data loss actually occurs, but the computer is basically hosed," said Craig Schmugar, a virus researcher for Network Associates. Source: ZDNet.