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#61095 - 11/30/01 10:34 AM Re: URGENT!!! VIRUS WARNING!!
Wolf Offline
Member

Registered: 01/25/01
Posts: 1235
Loc: Rockford, IL/Milton, WI, USA
Churrito,

I beg your pardon. I do think they make it for ladies as much as they do for men.

Wolf (Skating on thin ice - rolleyes )

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#61096 - 11/30/01 10:59 AM Re: URGENT!!! VIRUS WARNING!!
MadridMan Offline


Executive Member

Registered: 05/06/00
Posts: 9080
Loc: Madrid, Spain (was Columbus, O...
I'm reluctant to make this suggestion because it might worry people more and because it would negate some of the nice, useful features on this message board. Also, in some way, it could help ME!

You could go into your "my profile" and change your settings to NOT receive email notifications when someone has sent you a private message and/or when someone has replied to your public posting on the message board.

What would do? How would this help?:

1) You would no longer get these email notifications and thusly you'd have to seek out your check your threads to see if/when someone has posted a reply.

2) You'd have to remember to check your "IN BOX" in your PRIVATE MESSAGE account on the message board through your "my profile" to see if anyone has sent you a private message.

3) And so, the virus bots won't get your email address, my email address, and therefore all the email addresses in your Address Book should the virus reside on your computer already or in the future, thereby slowing down the spread of this annoying virus.

4) By doing this, some of the nice, useful features won't be used and this would be sad after having upgraded once and hopefully again in 2002 to accomodate all Macintosh users who use MSIE.

5) I might also suggest people open/use a free HOTMAIL account which will scan all attachments for viruses (it seems Yahoo email accounts don't do this). You can use this as your message board email address and keep your PC safe... assuming you don't execute/open any of the Hotmail attachments even after you see that it's infected.

Hopefully no one thinks or believes this entire website is infected and is afraid to use it. This would be very sad to me frown . My webhost asssures all its users that their servers are all secure and virus free. It's just that these viruses are on people's computers and it's transmitted through the sending and receiving of email to/from a PC which is already infected.

Frustrated, MadridMan rolleyes
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#61097 - 11/30/01 04:49 PM Re: URGENT!!! VIRUS WARNING!!
zero262quick Offline
Member

Registered: 08/02/01
Posts: 63
Loc: Eastern Shore of Maryland
churrocaliente,
1) No. All documents, regardless of what type (text, movie, images, viruses, etc.) have a three letter extension. This is to specify what type of file you are dealing with and what applications will read it. It is NOT exclusive to viruses. Don't belive me? Right click on any file, choose properties, and you will see the extension.

2) No. Some viruses are worms, which simply send themselves to everyone in your address book. I have at least one of these on my system now. Some are harmless, others erase your hard drive. Also, any operating system is susceptible to getting viruses. If you can create an operating system, someone can create a virus for it. However, some OS are more susceptible than others. By monitoring your email, you should be virus free without any of the troublesome virus software.

If you have any other questions, or don't understand what I posted, you can email me.

MM,
I sure hope no one thinks your site is infected, that does not make sense anyway.

If they do, they are foolish; you have too great a site for gossip to bring it down.

Wolf,
Please don't generalize about hackers. Not all hackers are bad. There are good ones too. I am personally a hacker, but I don't do any damage. I hack my own system (that's not supposed to be a joke). I could hack your system, but I could go to jail. I can, however, look up information about anyone, like when they were online, where they live, etc.

Rounding all of us up and performing your "quarantine" would be very cruel, indeed.

Ben
pbchamp@intercom.net

[ 11-30-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]
_________________________
Ben
pbchamp@intercom.net
------------------------
I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
- Thomas Watson (1874-1956), Chairman of IBM, 1943

"The more I meet new people, the more I like my dog."

Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead.
- Scottish Proverb

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#61098 - 11/30/01 08:46 PM Re: URGENT!!! VIRUS WARNING!!
expressdance Offline
Member

Registered: 03/10/01
Posts: 65
Loc: Boston, Ma USA
In terms of getting a free hotmail account, thats what I have. All incoming mail and downloads are scanned with Mcaffee virus scanner, and when I went to open the attachments, it said that they were scanned and no virus was detected. Although, when I did scan for the particular virus files found on the virus website, I found a couple of them. I tried to delete them normally, but it said that windows was using them to run, so I couldn't, and then had to go through the long deletion process. So, I guess that even the free accounts that scan will still get them!

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#61099 - 12/01/01 07:08 AM Re: URGENT!!! VIRUS WARNING!!
Antonio Offline


Executive Member

Registered: 05/07/00
Posts: 1176
Loc: Madrid (Spain)
I don't agree with Ben. Antivirus software it is effective if you use a good one and you have it automatically updated using the internet.

It's true that e-mail attachments is nowadays the most common way of virus infection but there are other ways in which your computer can get a virus.

If it wasn't for my antivirus, how could I have avoided getting infected by a javascript virus which came inside an HTML message with a reservation request?. Or how can I avoid getting infected by JS.Trojan.Seeker which I found while just browsing a website?.

My advise is that you do use an antivirus package, specially if you don't know much about computers.

As for the automatic virus checking at Hotmail, well.... hotmail is run by Microsoft and that makes it not very reliable. I wouldn't trust an e-mail attachment is 100% virus free just by coming through the hotmail virus checking system.

In fact, McAfee's Viruscan has proved to me it doesn't detect some viruses (for instance, the javascript one I mentioned above). Despite being one of the most popular and sold, facts are showing it is not as good as it claims.
_________________________
The best tips from your favourite hostal in Madrid.
Hostal Chelo at http://www.chelo.com

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#61100 - 12/01/01 05:15 PM Re: URGENT!!! VIRUS WARNING!!
Wolf Offline
Member

Registered: 01/25/01
Posts: 1235
Loc: Rockford, IL/Milton, WI, USA
Ben,

I apologize if you took my joke seriously. I had no idea it was politically incorrect to poke fun at hackers. Over the years, I've found that the best way to live with the problems we face each day, is to have a sense of humor. In other words, "When the world deals us lemons, make lemonade." I feel the virus that spread through our group was nothing more than a lemon.

As for the problems I have lived with, and continue to live with every day, they too are no more than lemons, and I joke about them as well. When I quit laughing, I'll probably shrivel up and die.

I also want to say that I appreciate your assistance regarding computers and viruses. Even though I've owned personal computers since the old Timex Sinclair (Have you heard about that little beast? :)), on to the various game type machines, the 286, 386, 486, and now 3 different Pentium class machines, I've never found it essential to do anything more than enjoy the fact they were available to me, as a source for work, education, and enjoyment.

As a hacker, you know there's a certain stigma attached to the description. Even though the vast majority of these people don't violate the law, just the fact that they are capable of invading a person's privacy makes all of us a bit ill at ease around them.

As for your ability to find out everything you'd want about me, that isn't too difficult. If there's anything you want to know, just ask. I'm not afraid of who I am, what I've done, where I've been, or where I'm going. I don't consider myself exemplary, but I do feel my life has not been wasted.

Once again, I apologize to you personally if you were offended. But not because I made a joke. Rest assured, I tell more of them about myself than any other subject... smile

In the words of the immortal Will Rogers;

Quote:
"We are here just for a spell and then pass on...So get a few laughs and do the best you can. Live your life so that whenever you lose, you are ahead."



Wolf (Whose favorite part of the Readers Digest is "Laughter Is The Best Medicine.")

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#61101 - 12/01/01 06:48 PM Re: URGENT!!! VIRUS WARNING!!
Tia Offline
Member

Registered: 02/18/01
Posts: 170
Ben,

Please, don´t be offended by my comment re hackers! It was NOT my intention to speak disparagingly about any person, neither you nor anyone else, who takes his/her work (hobby or whatever) with computers seriously! The thing is that the word hacker has a negative meaning in the everyday language and most of the time the people think of those virus spreading mischief-makers when you use the word hacker. I have a great respect for programmers and their knowledge of computer science but it makes me mad that some of them waste their scills in using computer information illegaly.

I hope you keep on throwing light upon our confusion at computer viruses.

Antonio, which antivirus software do you consider to be the most effective one?

Tia (who also thinks that a laughter makes it easier to deal with many things) smile

My question re antivirus software was not meant exclusively for Antonio, but I put the question to him since he pointed out that McAfee isn´t as good as claimed. Feel free to comment, anyone.

[ 12-01-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

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#61102 - 12/01/01 11:10 PM Re: URGENT!!! VIRUS WARNING!!
zero262quick Offline
Member

Registered: 08/02/01
Posts: 63
Loc: Eastern Shore of Maryland
Antonio,

The reason I deleted my virus software is because it slows my system down tremendously. I have spoke with several people who build/program computers and they agree. The best way to avoid viruses is to NOT accept attachments at all, unless they are from the postmaster. I have Norton system doctor that runs on my system at all times and it monitors everything. I also have RamBooster, which frees up RAM whenever it drops below a specified level.

Wolf/Tia,

I know you were just joking. I was just clearing up the fact that not all hackers are bad. I do not do much "investigation" as you may call it anyway. The fact is, you can change and delete files on anyone's system if you know how. Just go to happyhacker.org
But know that you can go to jail for invading someone else's privacy. I would never do that, I don't have the motivation or the time.

The Sinclair? Yeah, I think the memory was 2KB and the hard drive was like 10KB or something! The hard drives were $600 back then for about a megabyte. Now you can get several dozen gigs for under $100. The processors now are over 1.3 GB! They say that processor speed doubles and price gets cut in half every 18 months.
BTW, you skipped the 4004 and 4008 machines laugh in between the Sinclair and the 40286.
How about the Apple IIe? I used to use those in school! Apple came up with some great ideas until Microsoft stole them all right out in from of them. If not for Apple, we wouldn't have the GUI today, and then Microsoft mad Windows wouldn't be possible.

Anyway, here is a site with some information on the virus and a patch. Microsoft Security Bulletin

Removal Instructions
or
Removal Instructions
or
Removal Instructions

Email me or post if you have any questions.

Ben
pbchamp@intercom.net
_________________________
Ben
pbchamp@intercom.net
------------------------
I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
- Thomas Watson (1874-1956), Chairman of IBM, 1943

"The more I meet new people, the more I like my dog."

Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead.
- Scottish Proverb

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#61103 - 12/02/01 11:45 AM Re: URGENT!!! VIRUS WARNING!!
Antonio Offline


Executive Member

Registered: 05/07/00
Posts: 1176
Loc: Madrid (Spain)
Well, Tia, I don't consider any antivirus to be 100% perfect. The reason why I said I didn't like ViruScan was because it was unable to detect two viruses that were about to enter my computer. That's why I started to use a new one.

Currently, I'm using Kaspersky Antiviral toolKit Pro (AVP) which has been awarded as one of the best solutions. However, it seems it doesn't get on very well with Microsoft Outlook. This is not a problem for me because I don't use but I hope they enhance AVP's support for Outlook in the near future.

I'm not saying that AVP is the best solution but so far, it has proved to me to be better than Viruscan. However, I won't have any problem to switch to another antivirus if AVP doesn't work as it should.

---

Virus software does slow the system down but not in a way that you notice a delay when using it. Nowadays PCs are fast enough to run several programs at a time.

It's true that avoiding attachments (specially unknown and unsolicited ones) is a good practice. But, as I said before, there are still other hazards.

Uhm, Rambooster... I haven't tried this kind of software but it may cause conflicts with the antivirus, since both programs are monitoring what's in the memory.

I guess Rambooster tries to do what Windows should. The operating system should be the one in charge of memory management. Whenever a program is not using memory, it should be freed by the operating system and no by another program.

But, that's very common with Microsoft software. They all waste computer resources (memory, hard disk, CPU...) so that you have to buy new hardware to make it run.
_________________________
The best tips from your favourite hostal in Madrid.
Hostal Chelo at http://www.chelo.com

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#61104 - 12/02/01 12:01 PM Re: URGENT!!! VIRUS WARNING!!
churrocaliente Offline
Member

Registered: 10/29/01
Posts: 159
Loc: Miami Beach, FL
zero262quick

1) "No. All documents, regardless of what type (text, movie, images, viruses, etc.) have a three letter extension."

yes, I realize this ... but are there any extensions that are specific to viruses and NOT other files???

I have Norton on my macintosh G4 but it doesn't scan emails, it only scans the hard drive upon shutdown. I simply don't open any attachments unless I know they're coming.

If you think about it ... computer viruses work like their organic counterparts, but because it makes our computers, and not us, sick, many people take the possibility of "infection" for granted. I am amazed at how many .exe files people send me and all I can think is, why did you open this file???

eek

[ 12-02-2001: Message edited by: churrocaliente ]

[ 12-02-2001: Message edited by: churrocaliente ]
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Meridian: A Spain Travel Memoir

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