Virus Hoaxes and Chain Letters Every couple of months a wave of hoaxes go around the net. There are three common hoaxes on the net. Fake Viruses (including "goodtimes" "pen pal" "irena" and "dyeena" - they are always coming up with new names, so read the info below), the Ms. Fields /and/or/ Neiman Marcus Cookie recipe hoax, ICQ virus, Get Rich Quick! and other chain letters for kids who have cancer for the American Cancer Society OR kid who wants business cards or greeting cards. Lets discuss the virus hoaxes first. You cannot get a computer virus by *reading* e-mail. You should always be concerned about viruses because they can do serious damage and I suggest you download virus checkers from reputable companies like Norton or McCaffe regularly (older virus checkers don't know to look for new viruses, so you must update your virus program often so they will have records of the new ones) . Again, what these hoaxes have in common is that they tell you not to read a message or you will get the virus. Viruses cannot be activated by *reading* e-mail. They are only transmitted via .dll or .exe files - i.e. programs which can be transmitted as an E-mail attachment. However, the virus code has to be executed before it actually infects. It's reasonably easy to protect yourself. Here is the rule you *always* need to follow. If someone sends you a program via email, irc, or ICQ: if you don't know the person, delete it without opening it, or on ICQ or IRC refuse to accept the file. If you know the person and feel comfortable accepting it, put it through a virus checker immediately. Nice people have been known to unknowingly forward files with viruses on them! Also, never download a file or program from a web site, even a big website like Microsoft, without running the file or program through a virus checker before installing it on your system. If you'd like to read more about it, you can read the "FAQ" at: http://www.kumite.com/myths - a new, and really good site. http://users.aol.com/macfaq/ or http://www.urbanlegends.com/misc/good_times_virus_faq.html or http://www.eliashim.com/vcenter/irina.html or http://www.mcafee.com/support/hoax.html http://www.mirabilis.com/faq/ - re ICQ http://www.virusbtn.com/Welcome.html Or just go into a search engine (http://altavista.digital.com) and search for the name of the virus you are being warned about. You should find information about it on virus program manufacturer pages if it is for real. Cookie Hoax: This is probably the second most famous hoax on the internet Just FYI, Neiman-Marcus does not sell chocolate-chip cookies (they sell another brand, but not their own), and Mrs. Fields' Cookies does not sell its recipes. Here are some urls about debunking it: http://www.urbanlegends.com/food/two-fifty/neiman-marcus_debunked.html http://www.itd.umich.edu/~doc/Digest/0296/feat01.html Sick Child/Chain letter: There are two forms of the chain letter. The oldest is about a man who sent $1 - 10 to ten ppl on a list and became a millionaire. I hope you are all smart enough not to fall for that one. The second is sick in itself because it pulls on people's hearstrings. There are two variations of it. Either the message wants you to send a business card or greeting card to a hospital for a sick child who is collecting them, or trying to get into the guiness book of world records. This story turns out to be essentially true--but out of date. There was a boy diagnosed with terminal cancer, and actually earned the postcard record back in 1989. In the process, he attracted the attention of an American billionaire, was flown to the U.S. for treatment, and survived (the tumor was found to be benign). He is now in his teens, but the postcards keep flowing in, much to the consternation of the British Postal Service and the hospital at which he was treated. Guinness, abashed by the chaos it helped to bring about, will no longer accept record attempts in that category. The new one I have found is about the American Cancer Society. When I first got it, it said that you should send an email to the Cancer Society at an AOL address and they would keep track of it and pay a dollar for research for each one. I received one a few days ago that just said they would pay for each person that received email so you should send it to ten pen pals, but did not tell you to contact the cancer society. Here is the truth. The Cancer Society address at AOL is fake. This is a hoax. If you get an email like this and want to know if it is true: 1) send mail or call the person who is the subject of the story to verify before you send it on to anyone else. 2) do some research on the web about it before you send it on. 3) Chain letters are rarely, if ever, used by legitimate companies as a way to help anyone or to raise funds. Many chain letters are ILLEGAL. I hope this is helpful to you. If you have fallen for a hoax listed here, don't feel bad. The US government was tricked by one of the virus hoaxes. If you aren't sure, send it to me and I'll check it out for you. Finally, Please don't send impersonal mail to people that you don't know personally. It is not proper netiquette. ___________________________________________________________________________ Virus Detection and Prevention Tips Do not open any files attached to an email from an unknown, suspicious or untrustworthy source. Do not open any files attached to an email unless you know what it is, even if it appears to come from a dear friend or someone you know. Some viruses can replicate themselves and spread through email. Better be safe than sorry and confirm that they really sent it. Do not open any files attached to an email if the subject line is questionable or unexpected. Delete chain emails and junk email. Do not forward or reply to any to them. These types of email are considered spam, which is unsolicited, intrusive mail that clogs up the network. Do not download any files from strangers. Exercise caution when downloading files from the Internet. Ensure that the source is a legitimate and reputable one. Verify that an anti-virus program checks the files on the download site. If you're uncertain, don't download the file at all or download the file to a floppy and test it with your own anti-virus software. Update your anti-virus software regularly. Over 200 viruses are discovered each month, so you'll want to be protected. Back up your files on a regular basis. If a virus destroys your files, at least you can replace them with your back-up copy. When in doubt, always err on the side of caution and do not open, download, or execute any files or email attachments.