Re: viruses and virus scanning

Thanks Pat, for understanding me. I dont hold it againsy the person who sent
it out unless it was on purpose. I deleted it by the way but it had
replicated itself 100 times and it took me all afternoon to get rid of it.
My Mcafee did pick it up though so I knew it was there. Was anyone else in
the group hit?
----- Original Message -----
From: <pdanielak@bluecrab.org>
To: <veggie-list@eskimo.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 9:36 PM
Subject: 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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