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Re: email virus warning



This is where a good firewall is a great benefit.  There are several free ones that you can get.
Tiny Personal Firewall www.tinysoftware.com or an easier to use one at http://www.zonelabs.com/  .   I have tried these and they are good, Zonelabs also has an inexpensive advanced firewall that also filters attachments.  There is also one at http://www.sygate.com/ , which I have not tried.  In addition keeping your virus files up to date is worthwhile.  A firewall essentially prevents unauthorized communication over the internet.  There is also a patch available from Microsoft to prevent a variety of mail attacks.  It disables the ability to access possibly bad attachments.  There are also some freeware products that filter certain type of files to prevent your system from being attacked.  While this is not the main topic of this list, I think an occasional reminder is in order.  I will be glad to communicate personally with anyone who has questions about doing some of these things.  Rudeness and destructive impulses are not just confined to students.
 
John M. Clement
Houston, TX
 
I recently opened a file from a colleague that was a virus attachment. The virus name is W32/Badtrans@MM (McAfee) or W32.Badtrans.13312@mm (Symantec). Some of you were sent a message from my computer by the virus, a mass mailing worm. The message is in the form of a reply that has been truncated and has the line "Take a look to the attachment" added at the end. I have sent each person that I can identify as having received a message from me with the virus attached a separate copy of this warning.
 
The attachment can have about twenty different names. If you attempt to open it, you get an "Install Error" message that reads "File data corrupt: probably due to bad data transmission or bad disk access." Hopefully, you have not seen this message.
 
My copy of McAfee is a little over one year old, but had data files just one month old. I have e-mail scan on and heuristic scanning set for macros. It still can not find any trace of the virus, but I went through the manual deletion process described on the McAfee site and the symptoms seem to be gone. At first, the virus crashed Internet Explorer when I went to the antivirus sites (a characteristic of this virus). I was able to get to a site after a couple of attempts. I did not open Outlook Express and it appears no additional messages were sent out.
 
I could tell I had the virus when my home computer kept trying to log onto my internet service provider. It was then I recognized that Outlook Express had sent messages to all of you with the virus attachment. The messages were not in the sent mail box, they had been sent back to me (another of the characteristics of this virus). I also noticed that while I was offline reading mail, my outbox was growing in message size.
 
Sorry for any inconvenience. Let me know if you need any additional information.
 
Scott Rippetoe
Academy of Science and Technology
27330 Oak Ridge School Road
Conroe, Texas