I've been learning C++ for the past couple of months and I've learned how to create simple programs that basically annoy the crap out of people. They're nowhere near actual viruses due to the fact that all they do is disconnect your mouse and keyboard, display, unpin everything from the task bar, change language settings, make the mouse go crazy etc..
However it raised the question in my mind: is it possible for a virus to not only infect the BIOS but also alter it's settings? If it is possible would a virus be able to once in the BIOS, overclock a stock cooled CPU to the point were it fries? That sort of thing?