The Taiwan computer wizard whose CIH virus damaged millions of computer programs worldwide had almost finished designing two more powerful versions, a report said yesterday.

The Central Daily News said Chen Ing-hou, the alleged creator of the virus, also know as the Chernobyl virus, told police on Friday that he "had been embarking on two more types of CIH virus that would be more powerful than the existing one."

Chen also reportedly said the design was 80% completed.

He was quoted as saying that one of the new viruses would be able to penetrate servers of Microsoft's Windows NT and paralyse them.

The newspaper said police had decided to search Chen's home in the southern city of Kaohsiung today despite a promise by Chen to destroy the viruses.

The paper said Chen, now undergoing two years of military service, had been taken back to his army unit after the police interrogation.

A statement on Friday by Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau estimated that more than 60 million computers had been infected with the virus since it struck worldwide on Monday and the number was rising.

If unchecked, the virus can make personal computers useless by crippling hard drives. It affects Windows 95 and Windows 98 files, mainly via the Internet and pirated software, which abounds in Asia.

The virus struck on the 13th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in the former Soviet Union.