Virus Warning

[Chuck04]

This was put up as a pined report on another forum yesterday, thought i would share this with u

UNTIL CONFIRMED A HOAX....PLEASE TREAT AS A REAL THREAT PEEPS!

Please Be Extremely Careful especially if using internet mail such as Yahoo,

Hotmail and so on. This information arrived this morning from Microsoft and

Norton. Please send it to everybody you

know who accesses the Internet. You may receive an apparently harmless email

with a Power Point presentation "Life is beautiful. pps". If you receive it

DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, and delete it immediately. if

you open this file, a message will appear on your

screen saying: "It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful",

subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC and the person who sent it

to you will gain access to your name, e-mail and password. This is a new

virus which started to circulate on Saturday afternoon. WE NEED TO DO

EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO STOP THIS VIRUS. AOL has already confirmed the

severity, and the antivirus Software's are not capable of destroying it. The

virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself "life owner".

PLEASE make A COPY OF THIS EMAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS/COLLEAGUES and PASS IT

ON IMMEDIATELY!!!!

[jaxx]

[bh969]

WoW thanks for the warning m8 :)

[Bibbs]

Few things ..

1. AOL & Microsoft NEVER report on viruses ..

2. "Today" is so generic it's silly ..

3. Where are the links to Norton's AV site telling us about this virus?

4. Running a file is not classed as a virus ..

If you are silly enough to run files that people you don't know send you, you deserve every thing you get.

[Calisto]

READ IT.

[Bibbs]

Spotting a hoax

Hoax messages try very hard to sound authentic, but they inevitably contain several clues that differentiate them from real virus warning messages.

A hoax will say:

"Forward this message to as many people as you can"

"announced yesterday by IBM [or Microsoft or AOL or McAfee or CNN]"

"there is no remedy for it at this time"

"unparalleled in its destructive capability"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And, of course, variations thereof. The main clue is the lack of definite dates, lack of an authoritative source of information, e.g. a link to a known Anti-Virus website and the exhortation to forward the message on. We also have a thorough examination of the mother-of-all-hoaxes, the Good Times EMail Virus Hoax, which illustrates most of the common features of a prank warning.

A genuine virus alert will not:

Encourage forwarding of the warning

Make reference to companies not involved in virus protection (such as Microsoft, IBM, CNN etc.)

Employ multiple exclamation marks

A genuine virus alert will:

Only be sent to people who have registered to receive virus alerts

Provide a link to further information on the Internet

Indicate when the virus was discovered

Describe where and when a detection and/or removal tool can be downloaded

What to do if you get a "Virus Warning"

By applying the guidelines listed above you will avoid embarrassing yourself, and help eliminate the hysteria that hoaxes generate, and then:

Do the opposite of what the hoaxes say you should do - i.e. check them out, and do not forward them to friends or colleagues.

If you know the person who sent you the hoax message, send them a polite but firm admonishment - tell him or her it’s a hoax, and how foolish they look when they send it out to others without checking their facts first.

[Bibbs]

Thread closed.