Those evil masterminds are at it again.  They've found a new way to hit us where it hurts.  Network Associates' McAffee antivirus division has become aware of the first virus that uses PDF (Portable Document Format) to spread.  This new menace, known as "Peachy, " is spread via  Adobe's Acrobat software.  This is the program that is used to create PDF documents.  Acrobat has a feature that allows people to embed other files within a PDF, and this is where Peachy resides.  Fortunately the virus cannot be spread through Acrobat Reader, the free program that is used to view the PDF file.  Reader is lacking a code that recognizes attachments.

It will be safe until Adobe modifies future versions so that it has the ability to read attachments embedded in PDF files.  Vincent Gullotto, senior director of McAfee's Avert group, believes that peachy is a low risk at this time due to the fact that he has not received any customer reports on it.