Are "Good" Computer Viruses Still a Bad Idea? Author: Vesselin Bontchev University of Hamburg Vogt-Koelln-Str. 30, 22527 Hamburg, Germany bontchev@fbihh.informatik.uni-hamburg.de [Editor's note: Vesselin's current email address is bontchev@complex.is] During the past six years, computer viruses have caused unaccountable amount of damage - mostly due to loss of time and resources. For most users, the term "computer virus" is a synonym of the worst nightmares that can happen on their system. Yet some well-known researchers keep insisting that it is possible to use the replication mechanism of the vira