Yes, It could depending on the type of virus .

yes, malwares cause file corruption. Have instances where Office documents were corrupted.

Yes in some cases worm e.g. W32. Sality or SillyFDC may corrupt files and AV....

Hi,

This is bit old virus discovered in 1999. Easily destroy data in ms office .xls and .doc files.

Worm.ExploreZip

This worm destroys any file with the extension .h, .c, .cpp, .asm, .doc, .ppt, or .xls on the hard disk of the infected computer, any mapped drives, and any network computers that are accessible when it is executed. This continues to occur until the worm is removed.

Use following link for more details.

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup....
 

Thanks.

Hi Peter,

Yes virus may corruption the file if the file get infected  virus like Trojen, Malwares...etc

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/w32virutcf-collateral-damage

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-020411-2802-99

Hope this helps! &: )

Mick

I thought this is virus 'feature' feared most?

Also a virus doesn't have to be damaging, being annoying alone is enough to make head spinning..

A famous issue before is not file corruption but a file locked-up, you'll need to pay before they release back the data to you (scareware but with high encryption key i think?)