Purchasers of some models of Samsung digital picture frames received warnings earlier this week, following the discovery that a six-month-old computer virus had hitched a ride on the devices.

The file infecting virus, known as W32.Salty.AE, compromised version 1.08 of the Samsung Frame Manager software for Windows XP that comes preinstalled on some of Samsung's frames, according to an alert published earlier this month by the company. Some purchasers of the Samsung SPF-85H 8-Inch Digital Photo Frame from Amazon.com received a warning from the online retailer about the virus.

"The alert involves the SPF-85H 8-Inch Digital Photo Frames w/1GB Internal Memory, designed to work with Windows-based PCs via a USB connector," the warning states. "They were sold between October and December 2008 for about $150.... If you are using Vista or a different version of Frame Manager, this issue does not affect you."

Security experts first flagged digital picture frames as a danger a year ago, when several models of the devices were found to be carrying Trojan horses. Last holiday season, a number of consumers reported that photo frames -- small flat-panel displays for displaying digital images -- received over the holidays attempted to install malicious code on their computer systems. In January, consumer technology store Best Buy pulled its Insignia-branded 10.4-inch digital picture frame from store shelves, acknowledging that it found some devices infected with an older computer virus.

Samsung recommends using antivirus software to quarantine W32.Salty, and then installing version 1.082 of its Frame Manager software.

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