#1- why are they used so often... because they spread... These virii are verypowerful. they require no real effort by the creator other then sending it once, from there it spreads like wild fire.

#2- yes it is just outlook, when it comes to email... microsoft has more holes in that then a slice of swiss cheese... and outlook is pretty simple to target for that reason... (which is another reason these are so prominent.
***side note... Nimda is one of the types of virri you are talking about. Nimda not only exploits outlook, but if you are on a LAN it tries to upload itself through shared folders...so even if you password thing worked...there would still be a small problem


#3 - your idea to stop it would not work effectively. first. most people would save there password to the poasssword list for convenience. the virii could use that. second, this idea would not be widely accepted by the blithering idiots who are having the most problems. it would be inconvenient for them. third, there would prolly be a way around the password protect.

the real problem is not the addressbook. the biggest problem is people not downloading patches for outlook. other then that there are the people that just aren't educated about the problem.