Most of the computer viruses that were written in the early and mid 1980s were limited to self-reproduction and had no specific damage routine built into the code. That changed when more and more programmers became acquainted with virus programming and released viruses that manipulated or even destroyed data on infected computers. It then became necessary to think about antivirus software to fight these malicious viruses.
There are competing claims for the innovator of the first antivirus product. Possibly the first publicly documented removal of a computer virus in the wild was performed by Bernd Fix in 1987.
Fred Cohen, who published one of the first academic papers on computer viruses in 1984, started to develop strategies for antivirus software in 1988 that were picked up and continued by later antivirus software developers.
Also in 1988 a mailing list named VIRUS-L was initiated on the BITNET/EARN network where new viruses and the possibilities of detecting and eliminating viruses were discussed. Some members of this mailing list like John McAfee or Eugene Kaspersky later founded software companies that developed and sold commercial antivirus software.
