Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee Page #3

It's called Michelangelo.

It's called Michelangelo.

It's a lowdown work

of sabotage

that could wreck millions

of computer programs

around the world.

What is a computer virus?

A computer virus, Bryant,

is a program

written by a hacker.

Any computer that it's in,

it activates

and destroys all of the data

in those systems.

John showed his first

signs of savvy,

working with the media.

Able to articulate

a scary story.

This doomsday virus

was about to hit.

The entire research

community agrees,

this is the number one virus.

It is the number one

computer threat.

It's real,

and it's going to happen

on the 6th of March.

The Michelangelo Virus

caused many people

around the world

to download

antivirus software

for the first time.

That's how the money

just started rolling in.

By 1993, McAfee controlled

67 % of the desktop

antivirus market.

They only had about

20 employees.

Do not stand in doorways.

Stand against

But there were already,

like, $14 million in revenue.

They were printing money.

Excuse me.

It still was a group

of John's original friends

and family that worked there.

A lot of them didn't have

careers before.

Excuse me.

Gretzky, Tech Support.

John had more, like,

a cult style.

And people would not go home

for two and three days.

They would sleep

under their desk

They would sleep

under their desk

to make sure John was happy

with the work they were doing.

Okay, what you need to do

in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file

It was a crazy culture,

that's for sure.

Three of the women

were supposedly witches,

and they would sit

in the conference room

and have, like,

a little chant.

Andrea Nation would come in

in the morning

with a bottle of Windex

and clean off

Bill Larson's desk.

Because there was

a sex contest going on.

Because there was

a sex contest going on.

You'd get points.

They had a group called

Little Foxes,

where they, um,

would give points

for, uh, having sex

in different spots

of the office.

John being this free spirit,

that made the culture

of the company.

He wasn't the typical

suit and tie guy.

The investors wanted

to take the company

to the next level.

To the next level.

And that was definitely not

John's forte.

They felt like John

couldn't do that

and I think that John

didn't want to do it, either.

They bought John out.

They bought his shares out.

He sensed the virus threat

in a way

that most people didn't.

He seemed brilliant

but also paranoid.

He is more sensitive

than, maybe,

the average person

than, maybe,

the average person

to potential threats.

My wife thought it

a little funny

when he came next door,

looking for his wife Judy,

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