Virus Alert!

I know that viruses are not part of the newsgroup scene, but this one is
important enough, that I felt like making an announcement, to keep someone
from getting burned.

DO NOT open any e-mails that say "Merry Christmas" in the subject line. It
will probably be coming from someone in your address book, so trust none of
them.

This will delete the 0 sector on your hard drive, so it is a bad virus; said
to be one of the worst ones in while.

Cheers
--
Jim in NC

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:21:58 -0500, "Morgans"
wrote:

Microsoft Outlook Express

That will only affect those users who are ignorant enough to run
e-mail client program that automatically opens links embedded within
e-mail messages such as Microsoft Outlook Express.

Savvy users have nothing to fear.

Gotcha!

Larry Dighera schrieb:

That will only affect those users who are ignorant enough to run
e-mail client program that automatically opens links embedded within
e-mail messages such as Microsoft Outlook Express.

Savvy users have nothing to fear.

Actually, it affects those users who are ignorant enough not to
recognize a hoax.

Savvy users have nothing to fear.

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:29:29 +0100, Stefan
wrote:

Larry Dighera schrieb:

That will only affect those users who are ignorant enough to run
e-mail client program that automatically opens links embedded within
e-mail messages such as Microsoft Outlook Express.

Savvy users have nothing to fear.

Actually, it affects those users who are ignorant enough not to
recognize a hoax.


How can one be SURE it's a hoax if one is unable to see the contents
of the e-mail message without launching the links contained in it?

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:17:31 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:29:29 +0100, Stefan
wrote:

Larry Dighera schrieb:

That will only affect those users who are ignorant enough to run
e-mail client program that automatically opens links embedded within
e-mail messages such as Microsoft Outlook Express.

Savvy users have nothing to fear.

Actually, it affects those users who are ignorant enough not to
recognize a hoax.


How can one be SURE it's a hoax if one is unable to see the contents
of the e-mail message without launching the links contained in it?


*****************************

Larry

Get something like MailWasher and you can preview the e-mail on server
and then make the decision whether to down load it or not.

I ran through Snopes and they say HOAX.

Big John

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:17:31 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote in :

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:29:29 +0100, Stefan
wrote:

Larry Dighera schrieb:

That will only affect those users who are ignorant enough to run
e-mail client program that automatically opens links embedded within
e-mail messages such as Microsoft Outlook Express.

Savvy users have nothing to fear.

Actually, it affects those users who are ignorant enough not to
recognize a hoax.

How can one be SURE it's a hoax if one is unable to see the contents
of the e-mail message without launching the links contained in it?

A savvy user either disables that feature or uses an
e-mail client that doesn't automatically launch links
contained in the e-mail.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/merry-chr...rus-hoax.shtml

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/invitation.asp

Or they have their incoming e-mail checked for viruses.

Marty
--
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See http://www.big-8.org for info on how to add or remove newsgroups.

Martin X. Moleski, SJ wrote:
On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:17:31 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote in :


On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:29:29 +0100, Stefan
wrote:


Larry Dighera schrieb:


That will only affect those users who are ignorant enough to run
e-mail client program that automatically opens links embedded within
e-mail messages such as Microsoft Outlook Express.


Savvy users have nothing to fear.


Actually, it affects those users who are ignorant enough not to
recognize a hoax.


How can one be SURE it's a hoax if one is unable to see the contents
of the e-mail message without launching the links contained in it?


A savvy user either disables that feature or uses an
e-mail client that doesn't automatically launch links
contained in the e-mail.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/merry-chr...rus-hoax.shtml

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/invitation.asp

Or they have their incoming e-mail checked for viruses.

Marty

Earthlink trashes all that stuff before it gets to the PoP server.

"Martin X. Moleski, SJ" wrote

A savvy user either disables that feature or uses an
e-mail client that doesn't automatically launch links
contained in the e-mail.

True. Done, in my case. The problem with a real virus that comes from
people you know, is that you would be likely to open the E-mail and
attachments, because you believe they came from a friend, and that they are
safe. That makes this type of virus very dangerous, and very likely to
compromise the receiver's system.

Or they have their incoming e-mail checked for viruses.

Done, in my case, also.

There is also the possibility that the virus is too new to be detected by
anti virus programs.

The *******s that write virus programs deserve to be hung by their
fingernails, then flogged. There are many scores of people hit by viruses
every year, and many of them were trying to be safe. Sometimes significant
damage is done to their machines.

If a warning helps other people to not get hit, I'll take them and send
them, anytime. If a few turn out to be hoaxes, I guess I can live with
that.
--
Jim in NC

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:21:12 -0500, "Martin X. Moleski, SJ"
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:17:31 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote in :

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:29:29 +0100, Stefan
wrote:

Larry Dighera schrieb:

That will only affect those users who are ignorant enough to run
e-mail client program that automatically opens links embedded within
e-mail messages such as Microsoft Outlook Express.

Savvy users have nothing to fear.

Actually, it affects those users who are ignorant enough not to
recognize a hoax.

How can one be SURE it's a hoax if one is unable to see the contents
of the e-mail message without launching the links contained in it?

A savvy user either disables that feature or uses an
e-mail client that doesn't automatically launch links
contained in the e-mail.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/merry-chr...rus-hoax.shtml

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/invitation.asp

Or they have their incoming e-mail checked for viruses.

Marty


Right. There is NO WAY to know for sure if the e-mail message is
malicious or not without looking at its contents.

My question was a rhetorical challenge to Stefan's assertion:

"Actually, it affects those users who are ignorant enough not to
recognize a hoax."

My point is, that it's not possible to recognize a hoax without
looking at the contents of the message.