Re: Take a look at corrective update from the M$ Corporation

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

"thomas@tomsoft.net" writes ...
> 
> You THINK this is a virus?  When was the last time you saw Microsoft send
> out an update across the news groups?  Microsoft may suck, but they don't
> send out patches across the new groups and through email, which is the way
> I have received many of these "updates".
> 
> The people that send these out are sniffling cowards, that have nothing in
> their lives.  They exist only to crawl out from under rocks to attack, and
> then crawl back before they are seen.  They are small and insignificant,
> and they have no life.  If you open crap like this, then you deserve
> whatever you get from it.
> 
 ....

     From what I've read about this virus (worm, ...), it arrives in emails and
infects the receiver's computer. Then, it sends emails (using info from
'Address Book', etc. listings it finds) which have the virus as an attachment.
Evidently, the virus tries to use names and email addresses as both senders and
targets. So, most of the people who spread it probably do not know what's going
on and are actually victims.

     The virus emails are fairly easy to spot-- they are usually titled "Latest
Microsoft Update", "The Final Update", etc. and are about 154k in length.

     Smart (anti-spam) filtering doesn't seem to be much help preventing
mailbox overflow because ISP's typically have already added the garbage to your
mailbox and just use the filtering to route it (e.g. to a "Bulk" folder). 

     Eventually, ISP's may have to include an auto-delete option for emails
identified as "spam" in order to avoid daily overflows.

     Blocking receipt of email from specific addresses is no good because there
are endless variations (depending upon the name used as the sender).  One way
to keep mailbox space on your ISP reasonably clear is to block receipt of email
on a domain basis. Blocking 50-60 domains stops most of the garbage. There are
a few domains you will be sorry to kill; but, most are either fakes or places
you wouldn't get legitimate email from, anyway.

     Otherwise, at least a temporary cure is to change your email address.

     Whether or not mailbox overflow is a problem, you can avoid long delays
when downloading email which includes bunches of 150k messages by setting max
size of emails you will completely download to something like 5k.

     As for people who develop and release such damaging viruses ... I suggest
a long stay in a small cell listening to modem dialup beeps.



Rubywand