Virus Protection and Hoax Recognition - Be Safe Not Sorry
Everyday I receive numerous emails with virus ...
of them come in response to my sending out my ... ...
to close to 12,000 ... normally happens is a ...
Everyday I receive numerous emails with virus infections.Many of them come in response to my sending out my twiceweekly newsletter to close to 12,000 subscribers.What normally happens is a subscriber's system is infectedwithout them even realizing it. Their email program sendsout emails to everyone in their address book without themknowing.When I get an email that is infected, my anti-virus program,Norton Anti Virus 2002 which I have used for many years,intercepts it and gives me some options to either deleteor quarantine.The regular viruses that I see attached to these emails are:
[email protected]@
[email protected]@mmThere are other variations of the above and a couple otherdifferent ones that I receive regularly.If there is any one thing that you should do if you spendany amount of time on the Net and send and receive emailon a regular basis is make sure that you have a good anti-virus program.
You also have to make sure that you keep itup to date at all times. That is one of the reasons thatI like Norton, since it automatically updates and keepsme current with protection against the latest viruses.
Iam not a distributor for Norton but I highly recommend itto anyone that asks me. It is not expensive.
Their web siteis at: http://www.symantec.com/The important thing to remember is that you can have anactive virus infection and not even know it. If you aretrying to run an online business and your potentialcustomers are getting virus attachments with the emailyou are sending them, they probably won't be customers fortoo long.With the many email viruses now active around the Net, youshould also make it your practice not to open any attachmentsto an email if you don't know who it is from.
Most of theemail viruses become active when you open the attachment. Butagain to be totally safe you should have a good anti-virusprogram on your system.
You could very well get an infectedemail attachment on an email from someone you do know sincethey might not be aware that they are transmitting it. Ananti-virus program will give you the protection you need.The Email Hoax ProblemAs far as the email hoax problem, they continue to circulateover and over.
When you get one of them you can see that ithas been forwarded many times by the number of ">>>>>>" inthe left column. Each of these >'s are signifiers of anotherperson forwarding the message.Some of them are simply jokes and others can cause someproblems.
Many just cause a tremendous amount of unnecessarytraffic like one of the ones involving Microsoft:"If you receive an email titled "WIN A HOLIDAY" DO NOT open it.It will erase everything on your hard drive. Forward this letterto as many people as you can.
This is a new, very maliciousvirus and not many people know about it. This information wasannounced yesterday morning from Microsoft;...."Then there are ones like the "SULFNBK.EXE" hoax.
This onessays if you do a search on your computer for this file, youhave a serious virus infection and you should remove itimmediately and forward the message to as many people as youcan. Well this file is a real Windows file that controlscertain functions on your computer and you will find it in theWindow's Command folder when you do a search.
If you find itin different locations then you might have a virus since exefiles are normally the ones that get infected. But the emailhoax doesn't tell you that, it tells you that you shouldimmediately remove it if found.
And many people do remove it.Before you pass on any email like this you should check tosee if it is for real or not. There are a number of sitesthat you can check at:Symantec Sitehttp://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.htmlMining Co.(About.com) Virus and Hoax Guidehttp://antivirus.miningco.com/msub2.htmData Fellow's Virus Pagehttp://www.europe.datafellows.com/vir-infoVirus Hoaxes and Net Lorehttp://hoaxinfo.comRob Rosenberger's Sitehttp://www.vmyths.comHoaxbusters.org The Big Listhttp://hoaxbusters.orgStiller Research Alphabetic Hoax Listhttp://www.stiller.com/hoaxa.htmHoax Killhttp://www.hoaxkill.comWhat you should do when you have some time is go to thesesites and take a look at some of the most common ones so youare familiar with them when you get one.In summary, make sure that you have a good anti-virus programto protect your system and be sure the information you getin an email is valid before you do something to your computeror forward the message to all of your friends.
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