HACKETT-L Archives

Archiver > HACKETT > 1999-12 > 0945811299


From: Erin Bradford <>
Subject: [HACKETT-L] Virus Alert!...From the listowner
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 16:21:39 -0500 (EST)


>From: "Alfred Eller" <>
>
>I just got two messages, supposedly from myself, at least I was >listed in
the "from" column. One had a subject of "Re [ELLER] >Edmund L Eller..." the
other was "RE FOW 7.01" I remember the >Eller thread from the Eller list
and it was also on GenForum, >the FOW one could have ben anyplace, Anyway,
the mesage has an >attachment, one was monica.exe (69.7Kb) which alerted me
a bit, >the other attachment was goal.exe (69.8KB). They both contained >the
W32.NewApt.Worm Virus, according to Norton Antivirus >software. the body of
the e-mail says:
>http://Stuart.messagemates.com/index.html/
>in large blue print on a blue-green cackground, then in regular >size text:
>"Hypercool Happy New Year 2000 funny programs and animations...
>We attached our recent animation from this site in our mail ! >Check it out
!"
>
>Both these subjects are genealogy related, I don't know where >this someone
got my name but for-warned is for-armed.
>Be carefull out there,
>Good luck,
>Alfred

First off, I want to say that normally I do not condone virus warnings on
the list because most of them are hoaxes. This is one is an exception,
however, because it is real. (In the future, if you would like to post a
virus warning, send it to me for approval first). For those of you not
familiar with a worm virus (and I hope this answers your question Alfred),
it is a virus that is attached to an email. As soon as it's gotten into the
system, it will go into your email programs and address book and send a copy
of itself to the people in the address book. I'm not sure of the specifics,
but you can go to http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/virus1.html and it talks
specifically about this virus that is going around now. I personally have a
few guidelines for email that I will give to you. I have yet to download a
virus *knock on wood* so I hope it will help some of you, especially the
newbies to the internet and email as a whole.

1. Look at the subject line. I've become somewhat of an connesieur (sp?)
of reading subject lines since I get about 200 emails a day and 1/2 are just
junk mail to begin with. If the subject line does not interest you, and you
don't know who it's from, just delete it. one way to tell junk mail is if
there is an ID number in the subject...an example from a recent one read:
"It Pays to Play (74768)" Alot of times, there will be symbols in the
subject like ".~^~.##..." and on and on...unless you have a friend who likes
to play around like that, it's just junk and you can just delete it. If
someone sends you an email with a link it and you don't know who it is, do
NOT click on that. Most junk email is harmless but annoying, however,
emails with links could lead you to webpages that have a "password catcher"
on it, or the webpage could have a program that sends out a virus when you
connect. A great tool if you belong to AOL is to send spam mail to either
TOSSPAM (if it's not from an aol account) or to TOSEMAIL1 (if the "from"
field has an aol screen name). If you want more tips, and your on aol, go
to keyword: Virus. If not on AOL, go to http://www.norton.com to the Norton
Anti-virus company (you'll need to scroll down for anti-virus) or to
http://www.mcafee.com for the McAfee anti-virus site (click on the
"Anti-Virus" tab at the top). Good luck to all and please feel free to
email me directly with questions or comments.

Erin Bradford



http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~kshai (The Genealogy Depository)
Listowner Barringer Black Bradford Coventry Eller Hackett and Kern lists
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