Re: can anybody confirm that thie email protection will work??

Well...while I am not an expert on viruses, I seriously doubt this would
do anything to prevent a virus from spreading.

First of all, if it were that easy, the virus protection companies would
be out of business. It would also be part of the email software
and appear in your address book automatically in all updated
versions of email software.

Secondly, the logic that says if the virus couldn't send the "first" address
and would stop is not sound. Most viruses would simultaneously
send to all addresses in your book. It doesn't take much bandwidth to 
do that, and viruses are quick things, not complex enough to test
and evaluate their environment.

Third thing to remember, not all worms and viruses operate and spread
thru email--you can get them from webpages as well as transmit them 
through your browser. Also, while this method of prevention of transmittal
would be nice (if it worked) it still would not protect you from losing
all the information (software, datafiles, etc. on your own computer.

Good virus protection programs are relatively inexpensive, and if regularly
updated are your best protection, and the most responsible way to help
protect the folks in your address book. There are also some fairly effective
free virus programs. 

Last thing to remember--regularly back up your data. It may seem like a lot 
of work, but so is reloading software and recreating data files.

John~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Bruce  jbruce@infinet.com
Hidden Acres Iris Gardens
SW Ohio, USDA Zone 5b, Sunset #35
USA--Mid-Midwest
AIS Region 6, SSI,HIPS,TBIS, SIGNA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Peter & Debora Totoonchie 
  To: sibrob@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Friday, October 05, 2001 1:38 AM
  Subject: [sibrob] can anybody confirm that thie email protection will work??


  You Guys are the ones who might know, and since we have had minor problems with viruses on sibrob.  I would like any one who really knows computers to comment and tell me/ us if this would really work? Its something that came across the garden web, it seems too simple to be true.... but I don't know enough to tell if this is a legend or truth...

  To protect your E-address

  I  learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in
  its simplicity.
  As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer
  it heads straight for your email address book and sends itself to everyone in there,
  thus infecting all your friends and associates. 

  This trick won't keep the virus from getting into your computer,
  but it will stop it from using your address book to spread further, and it will alert you to
  the fact that the worm has gotten into your system.

  Here's what you do: first, open your address book and click
  on "new contact" just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to
  your list of e! mail addresses.  In the window where you would type your friend's first name,
  type in !000 (that's an exclamation mark followed by 3 zeros).

  In the window below where it prompts you to enter the new
  email address, type in WormAlert. (If it tells you this is not a valid address just
  say yes to add it, or OK). Then complete everything by clicking add, enter, O.K., etc.
  Now, here's what you've done and why it works: the "name"
  !000 will be placed at the top of your address book as entry #1.

  This will  be where the worm will start in an effort to send itself
  to all your friends. But when it  tries to send itself to !000, it will be
  undeliverable because of the phony  email address you entered
  (WormAlert).  If the first attempt  fails which it  will because of the phony address), the worm goes no  further and your friends will not be infected.

  Here's the second great advantage of this method: if an email cannot be delivered, you will be notified of this in your In Box almost immediately. Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an email addressed to WormAlert could not be delivered, you know right
  away that you have the worm virus in your system.  You can then take steps to get rid of
  it!





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