I was clever this time and I hid the recipient list.
Im getting pretty fed up with the number of emails generated by this little
'hoax' so heres a quick lesson on Viruses.
Firstly: Viruses are (generally) contained in certain types of files
- exe or com files (executable files)
- Script files (VBS or SCR) - usually attatched to emails.
- Word and Excel documents in the form of Macros.
Some are disguised as other types of files; remember that .BAT files are
also 'executable' (a true batch file is just a collection of commands that
run one after the other) so sometimes people rename the file.
Other times theyll put on more than one extension (eg yahoo.com.bat) - If
you have 'hidden file extensions for known file types' enabled you wont see
the .bat and think its a website...
So heres how to secure yourself.
1) THINK! If the above files are the risk, and you havnt *opened* any of
those files, youre pretty safe.
2) Get some antivirus software (Free one available from www.grisoft.com is
very good, if you dont already have a commercial package) and keep it uptodate.
3) DONT open attatchments sent from people you dont recognise. If you want
to open an attatchment and youre not sure, Save it to your hard disk FIRST,
Then update and run your virus scanner on it.
4) Virus Files are SAFE unless you *RUN* them. You can quite happily have
a virus on your hard disk that is of NO risk to ANYONE, if you never
actually double-click on the file. The Risk with Outlook and Outlook
Express users is that both programs have an annoying tendency to run
certain kinds of attatchments (scripts) without asking you first. Get a
resident antivirus program that is always loaded, or change your email
software.
5) When you receive an email 'warning' think about it. Legitimate virus
warnings (of which there are *few*) would contain links to online resources
from reputable antivirus companies (nortons, mcaffee, f-secure, avg,) or
other security agencies (CERT, Bugtraq). If it contains neither its
almost guarunteed to be a hoax.
6) If you STILL think you have an at-risk file on your system, update your
antivirus software and run it again. If it doesnt find it, there isnt
going to be a damn thing you can do about it.
Some additional points:
7) DONT EVER SEND AN EMAIL TO ALL YOUR ADDRESS BOOK ENTRIES. Its actually
against the terms and conditions of most ISPs , and its stupid; Ive no idea
who most of the recipients of this email are.
If you need to send an email to lots of people who dont know eachother; use BCC (Blind Carbon Copy). It hides the recipient list and stops the
collection of email addresses from a) filling peoples screens with 8 pages
of crap before the message text appears and b) becoming a target for
spam-address-harvesters.
I apologise to everyone for writing this but I think a half dozen responses
to the same message is enough. I hope this will be the final one.
Thanks,
Mark Foster.
(PS: Yes im a qualified computer technician and network administrator - Ive
been through this before, many times.)
The return address given here *is* valid, although for how long remains to
be seen; should anyone feel the need to object to this email /ask for help.
*snip*
*snip*1 Go to START
2 FIND or SEARCH option and bring up the FILES / FOLDERS section
3 Be sure you are searching your main hard drive, usually "C
DRIVE"
