Gullible Users Spreading 'Mydoom' Worm

Fox News ^ | January 28, 2004 | AP

[Ditter]

I have been getting e-mail that say my e-mails did not go thru, only the names on them are not anyone that I know. What is going on with that?

I use Webtv so viruses don't effect me but can I pass them on?

[Born Conservative]

If these morons would just keep their systems patched and updated we wouldn't have these problems.

Agreed. I have already had 2 infected emails, and both were promptly taken care of by my UPDATED Norton Anti Virus.

[dangus]

One of the reasons people open computer viruses is that MicroSoft, for some inexplicable reason, often hides file extension names. Hence, an executible program code named messagecontent.txt.exe LOOKS to the use like messagecontent.txt. The user then thinks, "Oh, it's only a text file!"

I hate to say it, this one ALMOST got me. If I hadn't gotten so many attacks, I would've opened one of them. I send mail out all the time to hundreds of different users, and could've been fooled into thinking one bounced back. But when I saw a dozen, I noticed all the "text files" were similiar in size, even though the titles were different.

[dangus]

Ping to self
(Don't ask why)

[dangus]

inhale, dammit!

[Dog Gone]

This has to be the first virus to sweep the world that I haven't seen. Not a single email.

Whatever the last one was, I received it at least 100 times.

[reagan_fanatic]

I'm a computer technician, and the biggest problem I see is grossly outdated anti-virus protection.

Too many times, these people think that by merely having an anti-virus program on your computer will protect you. They don't realize it must be updated periodically.

One computer I worked on recently had about 75 virus-infected files, along with a Norton Anti-Virus installation which had not been updated in three years.

[Gerasimov]

It's not because they're morons

You are correct ... I was simply venting a bit because I'm getting tired of all these preventable problems screwing up the net.

[js1138]

I'm a computer technician, and the biggest problem I see is grossly outdated anti-virus protection.

Exactly. That and kids who say yes to every internet proposition. I just cleaned up a computer that had 500 Klez infected files and 20 separate and distinct adware programs.

[RogueIsland]

Nearly every virus out there targets Outlook so users of any other mail client are pretty safe.

Windows itself isn't that bad if you keep it constantly up-to-date (the same can be said of Unix, but most home users aren't aware of the number of patches that get put out for Unix security problems). But Outlook? That thing is just a virus with scheduling capability. I mean, it's just one big security hole.

[Squawk 8888]

I have been getting e-mail that say my e-mails did not go thru, only the names on them are not anyone that I know. What is going on with that?

That means that somebody who has your email in his address book has this virus. It might be possible for you to spread it if you manually forward the messages or try to resend them, but if you just delete them you'll be fine.

[Ditter]

Thanks for the reply.

[Squawk 8888]

One of the reasons people open computer viruses is that MicroSoft, for some inexplicable reason, often hides file extension names.

One of the Windows options is to hide the extension of known file types and it is the default when you install Windows. For example, if you have Office, it will not display the extension ".doc" (Word file) or ".xls" (Excel file). Here's how to guarantee that you'll always see the extension:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. In the menu under Tools, select Folder options...
3. Click on the View tab in the dialogue box 4. Blank out the checkbox beside the entry Hide extensions for known file types

[dangus]

Thanks... I did discover that (embarrassingly recently, I rediscovered it), but I fell victim to sharing resources. :)