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Re: Virus warnings on Sq Ft List (OT)

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

JC Dill wrote:
> 
> On 03:49 AM 11/13/99 -0500, herblady wrote:
> >That is incorrect now - I just got an message from PCWeek saying that
> >there is a new virus that is caught and will mess up your contacts list in
> >MS Outlook and MS outlook express.
> 
> Only if you let MS Outlook and/or MS IE run VB (visual basic) programs
> automatically.  People who don't let their email software pretend to be
> HTML and VB programs don't have to worry about getting viruses from
> email.  Set your email software to plain text only, don't let it
> automatically run any programs or launch any other applications (such as
> automatically opening a Word .doc file) and you won't have to worry about
> getting a virus by "reading your email".

Ah, another entry for my big file of reasons for avoiding Outhouse
Express.  Aside from its being the explicit target of most of the new
worms, it also suffers from Micro$oft Codependence Syndrome: it does
everything for you, whether you like it or not.

When i was first told about this new worm, i was completely
incredulous.  It never occurred to me that any reputable company would
write an e-mail client that would launch attachments
automatically--least of all the very same client that is the worms'
principle target.  My position has been that any such client should
bypass the compost heap and go straight to /dev/null alongside the
diseased cucumbers.  My position remains.

If you don't want to lose HTML posts (which, annoyingly, are becoming
more common), newer versions of Netscape (from at least 4.5) have an
option to shut off JavaScript for e-mail while leaving it on for the
Web.  (Edit, Preferences, Advanced, uncheck Enable JavaScript for Mail
and News.)  That way, i can read all the razzle-dazzle e-mails without
worrying that i might be automatically whisked off to an erotica site. 
(Yes, that has happened to me.)

I wouldn't know such details about OE because i cannot be convinced to
even look at that program.  I do know from my anti-virus bulletins that
it is possible to shut things off in OE, but in my experience with M$
software, there is ALWAYS something else that i missed that desperately
needs to be turned off.  I would hope that Netscape (and Eudora, and all
other clients) would NEVER, EVER follow Micro$oft's lead.  I am frankly
shocked that such a bonehead idea actually made it out of the
brainstorming room.

I would recommend subscribing to your anti-virus software's mailing
list, if they have one.  That way, you won't have worry about hoaxes or
rely upon hearsay in gardening lists for such critical information.

-- 
@->-`-,-------------------------------------------------+
|  Cousin Ricky      USDA zone 11, U.S. Virgin Islands  |
|  rcallwo@uvi.edu   previously zone 6, Massachusetts   |
+-------------------------------------------------------+


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