Wildfire

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No, we're not talking about the ...
in the western part ofthe U.S., or not even ... that can harm your ...
times you will get an E-mail with a virus warning like theone that rece No, we're not talking about the wildfires in the western part ofthe U.S., or not even something that can harm your computer.Some times you will get an E-mail with a virus warning like theone that recently circulated on the web about the "A Card forYou" virus.Without checking to see if the virus is real, many peopleimmediately forwarded the note to everyone they know, and urgedthem to do the same. Many of them did so, and false informationspread like wildfire around the web.
This particular virus wasexposed as a HOAX. If anyone had bothered to take the time and doa search on "A Card for You", they would have found the web pageat Symantec which clearly reports it as a HOAX.The only thing you are accomplishing is to frighten people andcause unnecessary concern.
In point of fact, you couldunwittingly cause problems for the people you send them to, likethe SULFNBK.EXE Warning did. This hoax urged people to searchfor the "sulfnbk.exe" file on their computer, and if it was foundto delete it.
Sulfnbk.exe, is a valid Microsoft Windows 95/98/Meutility that is used to restore long file names, and if you useany of these Windows systems, you will find it. This caused alot of people to delete it, and then they had to scramble torestore it.I recently received an E-mail outlining a persons experienceswith viruses, and he urged everyone not to accept any E-mailswith an attachment.
He has set his mail reading program toautomatically delete any message with an attachment. This is anover reaction.
One of the advantages of the web is the wealth ofinformation available on the net.Much of the information available includes files that are toolarge to read as E-mail, and are automatically converted to afile. These are text files and cannot hurt you, and neither canan image file.I will not accept an .exe file, a .doc file or a .zip file andneither should you...
UNLESS it is from a reputable, known sourceand you have specifically requested this information.We, for example, have the Eudora software available at ourWeb Site and are authorized distributors. I personally have usedthis program without problem for quite some time, and the samesoftware I use is available there.
Does this mean you shouldaccept unsolicited files from friends - NO! They could unwittingly be infected and could pass the virus along to you.Blocking all attachments is not realistic. The maxim you shouldfollow is simple - don't download files unless you have requestedthem - but let's face it, if you receive an unsolicitedattachment, be wary but don't panic.
It can't hurt you unless youopen it.Rather than simply rejecting any e-mail with an attachment, youwould probably be better served by first getting a good virusprotection program, and then examine each one on a case by casebasis.You should automatically delete anything that ends with vbs,.bat, .zip, .exe, .pif , and .scr files. Regardless of how theymay look, don't be fooled with an attachment that looks likesomething else.
The "Love-Letter-For-You" virus looked like atext file when it arrived and it could have been thought to beone. The attachment however ended in .vbs.
and arrived with theattachment name Love-Letter-For-You.TXT.vbs.If you take reasonable care, you should be safe from realviruses. Don't spread false rumors about viruses that areactually hoaxes, as they will spread like wildfire, and cause alot of people undue concern.
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