OT: viruses and virus scanning

At 11:12 AM 8/23/01 +0800, you wrote:
Ok, I was a bit hasty. But it was definitely from the Veggie list.I don't
usually unsub becos of viruses but I feel insecure on a list that doesn't
scan outgoing messages.[...]

Hello all,

Apologies in advance -- this post became kind of long, but with all of the 
viruses and worms going around lately, I think it's important. I learned a 
lot yesterday while researching the particular virus Nesa is talking about.

I probably would have felt the same way as Nesa, wanting to leave the list 
right away, if I hadn't over the last few months received viruses in the 
mail from friends of ours, and I can't "unsub" from their mail. In fact, 
this is the first time I have received a virus through a list and not from 
an individual.

It's unfortunate that there are people out there that want to sabotage 
total strangers for whatever reason, but there are some things we can do to 
protect ourselves and each other.

It's a good thing to know where the virus came from, so that the person or 
group can be alerted and clean it up so that it doesn't continue to spread. 
Many times the person passing on the virus does not even know it is on 
his/her computer until someone he or she knows gets the virus and informs 
the sender! The virus that was going around this week is called haptime@mm 
(it also goes by a few aliases), and here are a couple of web sites with 
information which can help you determine, by searching for certain file 
names, if you have the virus on your computer.

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/vbs.haptime.a@mm.html

http://vil.nai.com/vil/virusSummary.asp?virus_k=99080

http://www.securityportal.com/research/virus/profiles/vbshaptimemm.html

Not always, but most often, even if you get a virus in the mail it will not 
be activated unless you open an attachment that comes with the mail 
(unfortunately, this was not the case with haptime). Now I do not open 
attachments even from friends unless I know exactly what they are sending.

Some attachments to watch out for are those ending in .scr, .vbs, .exe, and 
even .doc, since doc files can contain dangerous macros, and since many of 
the viruses going around seem to target Microsoft products, especially 
Outlook Express. But it is better NOT to open attachments.

Many computers now come with virus scanning software, usually McAfee or 
Norton, but it is important to update (not necessarily upgrade) these 
programs on a regular basis so that files on the latest viruses can be 
added to your program. Updates are free at the web site of the software 
company.
It is also important to set your virus scanning program to scan your e-mail 
as it comes in.Most of the viruses I have received were detected and 
deleted by McAfee before I could even open the e-mail.
The next line of defense is not to open any attachments, even from friends, 
unless you know exactly what they are (even then I cringe at attachments now).
 From what I read yesterday while researching the happier virus, viruses or 
worms can also be found in .html files, so another line of defense would be 
to always write your mail, especially to lists, in plain text. Apparently 
there has been a "security hole" in the Outook Express e-mail program, 
which has something to do with the stationery feature. Microsoft is aware 
of this and offers a security patch on their download page at their web 
site. Most e-mail programs (Eudora, Outlook, Netscape, for sure) have 
options to convert e-mail to plain text before sending.)

Another thing we can do is alert each other -- even though it is "off 
topic" -- of Known viruses that are going around so that we can be on the 
alert when downloading our e-mail. Unfortunately, there are also virus 
"hoaxes" that go around, so don't delete any files from your computer 
unless you get the information from a reputable source and double-check it.

Once again, sorry for the length of this post, but considering the number 
of viruses and worms going around now, I think it's important that we are 
all aware.

Pat
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