OT How to protect your addresbook from worms (cross post)

[Guest guest]

> HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!

>

>

> I learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in it

> 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 gotten 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 AAAAAAA. 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 " AAAAAAA 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 AAAAAAA, it will be undeliverable because of the

> phony email address you entered (WormAlert@...). If the first

> attempt fails (which it will because of the phony 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 spelling 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! Pretty slick huh?

>

> If everybody you know does this then you needn't ever worry about opening

> mail from friends.

>

> Pass this on to all your friends.

>