I was only able to automate a few things using basic at the time... but even then, Virus made so little sense that I chalked it up to Cymbeline Chip Psionics.I write software and firmware for metal cutting machines and I have to deal with interfaces and writing all the time. I consider the Virus science handwavium akin to Star Trek science. Something that sounds good but quickly falls apart when you poke at it.
But both Virus and the Empress Wave are needless resets; it'd have been far better to just extend hard times into the Dark Times, then a new unification in 1300 or 1400.
TNE was, for a decade or so, my favored ruleset, but my least favorite setting timeframe. (My current campaign is hybrid CT/Striker/MT/T20. With a few T5-borrows. In 1107)