FW: Stopping Spread of Worm Virus Infections

[Guest guest]

I don't know how reliable this information is as I no longer use PC formats.

I hope it helps the rest of you worm senders.

---------- From: Giles, INTERNET:ricgiles@... To:

Simon Fuller, 106160,235 Cc: INTERNET:planetarymed@... Date:

Tue, 11 Dec, 2001, 22:4412:0 RE: TIP OF THE YEAR

> Hi All, Sending this out to everyone. Since I have an iMAC and also use

> Eudora I do not have the same problem that many have with constant little

> worms invading their systems. I'm sure all will enjoy and find this tip

> useful. Send it on to others. Best wishes, - - - - - - - Here's a

> useful tip for adding to your and others' virus/worm immunity. However,

> I'd still recommend use of the Eudora e-mail program as a way of avoiding

> reproducing most viruses/worms (since it uses a different address book

> system). Palden

>

> Here is a computer trick that's really ingenious in its simplicity.

>

> As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer it heads

> straight for your email address book and sends itself to everyone in there,

> thus infecting all your friends and associates. This trick won't keep the

> virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from using your

> address book to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact that the

> worm has got into your system.

>

> Here's what you do: first, open your address book and click on " new

> contact " , just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list

> of email addresses. In the window where you would type your friend's first

> name, type in !000 (that's an exclamation mark followed by 3 zeros). In the

> window below where it prompts you to enter the new email address, type in

> WormAlert. Then complete everything by clicking add, enter, ok, etc.

>

> Now, here's what you've done and why it works: the " name " !000 will be

> placed at the top of your address book as entry #1. This will be where the

> worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends. But when

> it tries to send itself to !000, it will be undeliverable because of the

> bogus email address you entered (WormAlert). If the first attempt fails

> (which it will because of the phoney address), the worm goes no further and

> your friends will not be infected.

>

> Here's the second great advantage of this method: if an email cannot be

> delivered, you will be notified of this in your Inbox almost immediately.

>

> Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an email addressed to

> WormAlert could not be delivered, you know right away that you have the worm

> virus in your system. You can then take steps to get rid of it!

>

> I hope this helps to save you a lot of time and effort in the future.

>

> Warm regards,

> <.Backshell@... " >mailto:.Backshell@...>

> . Backshell@... <mailto:.Backshell@...>

>