Foiling Worms!
 

I grabbed this from another private site - very reliable folks there.

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:
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 an 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
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 'In Box' 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

Note... this may get around to the wrong person(s) so you can
create any name that will be listed on the top of your email list...

good luck.....

To get this entry in your book, make a new address card with the name...0000 and the email address @.virus (or whatever you want) and install this in your book.

Great tip, Ruth!
 

It amazes me that I have never heard this before! Thank you.

It is not a perfect solution but it does eliminate some problems.

Ruth,

Thanks for the excellent advise, makes sence to me.

jenny :smug:

http://www.snopes2.com/inboxer/virus/quickfix.htm

This link gives further info - it's not perfect, as I said. This one does not screw you up but there have been similar ones that do! Why are there so many sickies out there!

(Thanks to LindaT for straightening me out!)

thanks ruth!
 

you are a genius!!!!

hugs, cathy :wave:

You can't be too careful these days. I received a email from someone who posts on a different forum. She never emailed me before so I was cautious. there was no message, just an attachment. I immediately deleted it both from my inbox and also the trash can. Last weekend DH updated of virus protection.

I did this weeks ago when I first heard about it but I got the virus anyhow and now everybody hates me. Of course, it would have helped if I had a virus detector installed. I do now, and tomorrow I will be getting my computer guru to come and help me eradicate this miserable worm but until then, please don't open any e-mails that you may seem to get from me.
Linda

We really really really don't hate you, LindaBC. It can happen to anybody - and has - and will!