Macro and Scripting languages...

Virus writers have also realized the potential of macro and scripting languages. The macro language facility in Microsoft Office products , especially Microsoft Word , provide the environment for a new generation of virus writers. This technique also allows macro viruses to cross to different operating systems because an infected Word document created on Windows machine might run quite happily on an Apple Macintosh running word.

The popularity of Microsoft Word has led to the majority of macro viruses to date being written for this , and other , Microsoft Office products. We should not assume the macro virus problem only exists for Microsoft - any product that gains popularity and has a facility to execute user statements is liable to be misused by the virus writers.