Everyone,

 

I am writing to you about the viruses and worms that some of us seem to be getting bombarded with lately.  This might be a good time for some people to check their computers or to update whatever firewall or virus and worm protection they have.

 

Less than two weeks ago I noticed that I was getting a lot of oddball messages.  By oddball I mean that I was getting notes that said things like 'undeliverable mail' or something of that nature.  At first I would read the notes because I've had problems now and again with notes I've written being delivered to AOL addresses and to multiple group addresses, and I wanted to make sure that that wasn't what these notes were all about.  The notes would say that an email to such and such a person/e-mail address was unable to be delivered, and then often something about a 'binary attachment'.  I started to think that they were actually junk mail messages because I didn't recognize *ANY* of the addresses that delivery had supposedly failed to.  So I would put them in the junk mail folder if msn hadn't already done it for me, and then I would clear the junk mail folder.  Then I started noticing that a couple of the notes had the name of one of my yahoo groups in the subject line with the 'delivery failed' message as well.  I then realized that it was likely that some member of that particular group had a virus or worm and that said worm was sending itself out to the people in her/his address book, and that would explain why I didn't recognize any of the e-mail addresses that supposedly delivery had failed to.  I then sent an e-mail to that group saying that someone had a virus or worm, and everyone please check your computers.  I then unsubscribed from that group.  Since I unsubscribed from that group I have still been getting the same messages, or at least I had been a couple of days ago when I was last on.  I still don't recognize *ANY* of the addresses involved, but all those addresses appear to be valid e-mail addresses.  That indicates to me that someone either on that one group, or someone who is on another group with me or has me and all these other people in their address book has this virus or worm.  As further proof I can also add that within minutes of my e-mail to that one group a member of the group emailed me privately and said that she had also

had the same problem and had gone to yahoogroups about it already.  They gave her the name of some worm that had been going around, but she wasn't sure of the name when she passed the information on to me. 

 

Some of these e-mails did have attachments with them.  Not only did I *not* open any of these attachments, none of the attachments ever even got through to my computer because MSN removed them as unsafe before they downloaded into my inbox.  However, I still got a little nervous, so when I was last on three days ago I stayed up until past 4 a.m. checking checking my computer for viruses and worms over and over and over.  I ran my Resident Shield, I ran my boot up scan twice, and I ran my Norton Anti-Virus (which was just updated two or three days ago) twice.  That means that I scanned my ENTIRE COMPUTER AT LEAST TWICE, and most parts of it three or four or more times.  The entire process took several hours.  I found absolutely NOTHING anywhere on my computer.  In addition to all of this, when I signed on today I also ran my SpyBot program to check for things like weird cookies and the like that some websites will put onto our computers.  I found the usual cookie tracking thingies that are relatively harmless like I always find and removed them all. 

 

In addition, every now and then I will get an e-mail message, usually from some group, with an attachment that msn has removed as unsafe.  At that point I can't open the attachment even if I want to, which I don't.

 

I'm telling all of my groups and everyone I can think of all of this because I want to make a few things clear:

 

1) I have no viruses or worms on my computer

2) I do check for viruses and worms

3) Even if I don't check myself, my boot up scan does as does msn mail 

4) I will never forward any pictures or attachments that have not been scanned for viruses

5) I will never forward any pictures or attachments that I do not know the original source for

6) I will never forward any picture, attachment or e-mail that has had harmful files or attachments removed from it already

 

Therefore, it you get a virus or worm, it isn't coming from me or my computer.  Also, if you see my name or address anywhere on me, it isn't coming from me or my computer.  It is coming from someone *else* who is either on at least one group with me and has my address somewhere on my computer, or it is coming from someone who knows someone who has e-mailed me at some point in a group note with them.  In other words, I am being spoofed. 

 

However, so far no one has indicated to me that they have received any infected e-mails from me, which is good.

 

Gail
anthrogail@...

 

"Enjoy every sandwich."--Warren Zevon

 

"Freedom isn't free."--Various

 

"Remember the heroes
Who fought for the right to choose.
Remember the heroes
We've all got a lot to lose."
--Sammy Hagar ('Remember the Heroes')