A COMPUTER virus has sparked major problems for patients waiting for blood test results at a Swansea hospital.

They say the situation, which came to light on Monday, led some blood tests to be cancelled, and raised fears that the work of the trust's pathology department in Morriston Hospital would be hampered all week.

But a spokeswoman for Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust said the problem was resolved yesterday morning and the service was now back to normal.

Originally, city GPs were asked to hold back non-urgent blood tests while the IT department dealt with the virus.

It is understood other Welsh NHS trusts and UK businesses have been hit by the computer bug, which affects Microsoft programmes.

One Swansea patient, who did not wish to be named, said she feared the virus could have caused chaos for those waiting for blood tests.

She said: "We were told blood tests would be cancelled for the rest of the week because of a virus in the system at Morriston Hospital."

But the trust spokeswoman said all GPs had been contacted to be told the service was up and running again.

She said: "The problem was solved by yesterday morning and the computer was back online."

She said the organisation was full of praise for the efforts of workers in the pathology department, who gave up their time over the weekend to help.

Every weekday, the department processes between 4,000 and 5,000 patient samples — approximately 60,000 tests.

Posted by Justin Payton in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 17:04

Apple has backed off its suggestion that Macs require antivirus software. Yesterday, the computer maker suffered a public relations nightmare after an article was discovered on the company's site encouraging Mac users to install antivirus software. Less than 24 hours later, Apple has quietly removed this recommendation from its KnowledgeBase.

Turns out the article, which the BBC says was posted on November 21, was simply an update to a 2007 entry. In response to the firestorm of comments, Apple spokesperson Bill Evans said, "We have removed the KnowledgeBase article because it was old and inaccurate. The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box."

Posted by Justin Payton in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 10:06