Computer viruses destroy our hard work, cost us money and often cause a fair level of embarrassment at our naivety or apparent sleaziness for clicking on the infected link in the first place. Computer Virus Catalog has taken 20 of the worst viruses of all time and collaborated with artists to immortalise them.

Founded and curated by Amsterdam-based creative Bas van de Poel, Computer Virus Catalog sees 20 artists “interpret the most destructive computer viruses in their own style”.

Each image has an accompanying paragraph, explaining the virus’ devastating effect, as well as a little history.

Some of the quirky snippets of history behind viruses include:

Stuxnet was designed by the US Government to wipe out Iran’s nuclear facilities.

was designed by the US Government to wipe out Iran’s nuclear facilities. Cookie Monster was the world’s first virus, freezing your computer and demanding cookies. To unlock your computer you had to type ‘cookie’ (obviously).

was the world’s first virus, freezing your computer and demanding cookies. To unlock your computer you had to type ‘cookie’ (obviously). Melissa was named after its creator’s favourite exotic dancer.

was named after its creator’s favourite exotic dancer. I Love You pretended to be a letter from a secret admirer. It wasn’t. The virus “ infected more than fifty million computers within days and caused $10 billion in damages”.

pretended to be a letter from a secret admirer. It wasn’t. The virus “ Implant – Probably our favourite. The DOS virus Implant displays a high res photo of a blonde bombshell wearing nothing but lingerie. The quality of the image is remarkable since DOS runs video in text mode. After rebooting your computer you will notice the babe erased your entire hard drive…