Ain't this cool!
This is the key of most infections. In fact, some specialists say it is the only key of all infections by image viruses. But, in its more restricted sense, "ain't-this-cool" viruses are only those which are caught accidentally while you're browsing other people's homepages. Suddently, an image catches your eye. "Ain't this cool!", you think, and you download it. You have already reproduced it. Then, you might put it in your homepage. The most dangerous virus are so attractive that you can't help showing them in your site. You might even change the whole structure of your page to accomodate the good-looking virus. That, of course, is perfect for the virus, that will wait patiently in your page for someone to download it again.
<--- This is the fire virus, the most infectious of the viruses of this type. Look at it with care! You might feel an irresistible urge to download it. Resist!

Just what I was looking for!
It's easy to mistake this kind of viruses with the "ain't-this-cool" type, but there is one essential difference. You don't plan to catch an "ain't-this-cool", you just fall in love with it. But the "just-what-I-was-looking-for" virus is one step above in the evolutionary scale: you catch it deliberately. You want to build your homepage and you need some essential ingredients: backgrounds, lines, bullets... So you start surfing the Web with the intention of getting some, because it's easier than making your own. And of course, you find them. Only that you don't realize that they are image viruses, waiting for you to reproduce...
 

<--- This is the space virus, in one of its endless mutations. What makes it really dangerous is that it's at the same time an attractive background and easy to make with any graphics editor. So almost anybody can build and spread their own version of the space virus.

Me too!
These virus are also caught deliberately, but for a different reason. You could say they go one step further than the "just-what-I-was-looking-for". You don't just want them, you don't just go hunting for them, but you are also extremely proud of them and are grateful to the person who infected you! The "me-too" virus is the one that shows that you belong to a specific group: an organization, a ring, a particular ideology or, God forbid! one of the millions of kinds of "cool" and "most visited" sites.
<--- This is one of the loveliest and least-known varieties of the blue ribbon virus, the most famous of its kind. What limits the spread of most "me-too" viruses is that you need to fulfill some condition to put it in your page. But all you had to do to qualify for a blue ribbon was to like the Internet, which you undoubtedly did if you had a homepage. This virus is now on the decline because the political reasons that justified its existence are now mostly forgotten.

I-am-a-virus
This kind of viruses is so new and sophisticated that very few people know of their existence. They have become as bold as to state clearly that they are viruses, and still expect to reproduce and thrive. They prey on the weirdies of the Internet, on those who like to say they'd never put on their page anything that everybody had. You thought they were inmune to image viruses? Ha! Look at this!
<---The guy who made this (you can visit him if you click on the virus) apparently thinks that he has invented something. Well, this certainly isn't the first image virus, but it's the first one to say so. Now we only have to wait and see if it has any success...

If you discover any new type of image viruses, or there's any famous virus that you think should be included in this page, e-mail me: lusina@redestb.es