another hoax email

[Guest]

                  Please Read & Send Out ASAP

 

Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sent and the moment  you open these emails your computer will crash and you will not be able to fix it!

 

This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe, but mainly in the US and Israel.

 

Don't be inconsiderate; send this warning to whomever you know.

 

If you get an email along the lines of "Osama Bin Laden Captured" or "Osama Hanged" don't open the attachment.

[fifestay]

Hi Speight and there is another ..

 

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG ALL YOUR CONTACTS:

Be alert during the next few days: Don't open any message with an  attached file called "Invitation", regardless of who sent it. Its a virus that opens an Olympic Torch that "burns" the whole  hard disk of your computer.  

 

This virus will come from someone who has your e-mail address; that's why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts.

It's better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the  virus and open it.

 

If you receive a mail called "Invitation", even though sent by a friend,  DON'T open it and shut down your computer immediately.  This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it's been classified by  Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.

The virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there's no repair yet for this particular virus. It simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disk, where vital information is kept.

SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW.

[THE FIFER]

REGARDS TO THE ABOVE POST RE: THE VIRUS "INVITATION" THIS IS ALL WELL MEANING BUT IS THE VIRUS TRUE OR FAULS, WELL IT'S ACTUALLY HOGWASH, COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY UNTRUE, THE ONE FROM SPEIGHT I DO NOT KNOW ABOUT BUT I HAVE HAD WORD REGARDING THE OTHER "INVITATAION" ITS NOT TRUE. ANYONE WISHING MY DATA REGARDING THIS PM ME WITH UR E-MAIL ADDRESS, I TRIED TO PUT IT ON THE FORUM BUT COULD'NT,

[mealybar]

Fifers email:

The Virus Threat: Real or Imagined?

 

This week, several well-meaning friends and colleagues forwarded

an email message to me (and everyone else they knew) warning of a new

virus doing the rounds. The virus arrives as a file named

'Invitation', attached to an email message. If you open this

'Invitation' file, the virus springs into action, opening an Olympic

Torch which 'burns' its way through all your files. According to the

warning, 'this is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been

classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.'

 

You may well have received a copy of this yourself from a

similarly well- meaning friend or relation. If so, you may have

forwarded it to others, believing it to be true.

 

It's actually hogwash -- completely and utterly untrue. (If you

read it carefully, it's also rather amusing: the idea that CNN, the

American TV news channel, is suddenly in the business of announcing

viruses, and that Microsoft has started some sort of

virus-classification system.) It's another in a long list of virus

hoaxes that do the rounds, and of the many I've received over the

years, not one has had a glimmer of truth to it.

 

One I enjoyed a few years ago was the so-called 'teddy bear

virus'. The warning told you to look for a particular file which had

an icon of a teddy bear. If you found this file on your system, you

had the virus and you should delete the file. The file in question

was actually a valid part of Windows (although why Microsoft chose a

teddy bear as its icon is anyone's guess!), so almost everyone who

received the warning and took it seriously would have found this file

on their system and deleted it. A viciously clever way to fool people

into deleting parts of Windows themselves!

 

It's in the nature of these hoaxes that they have to give you some

description of the fictional virus's appearance, and that's what makes

them easy to debunk. With this one, I spent a few seconds paying a

visit to Google (www.google.co.uk) and searching for the words

'olympic torch virus'. A quick glance at the page of results reveals

the word 'hoax' over and over again. A quick search for 'teddy bear

virus' is much the same.

 

It's a sad fact of Internet life that a little scepticism goes a

long way. If a friend warns you of a virus or something similar, your

assumption is that they believed it, so there must be something in

it, so you should do the responsible thing and pass on the

warning. Next time you receive a virus warning, be sceptical! Take a

minute to visit Google and do a quick search. If it turns out to be a

hoax (as it surely will), you can save yourself the bother of

forwarding it to everyone you know, and save all your friends the

bother of dealing with it at all.

 

One associated point while we're on the subject: even if the virus

warning turned out to be true, it's still pointless. It would be just

one of many viruses, and you haven't received similar warnings about

them all. That's why you have anti-virus software -- so that you

don't need to be warned about every virus doing the rounds and keep

watch for teddy bears, Olympic torches, unicorns and fairies. So, if

you ever receive a virus warning and feel an urge to contact others

about it, don't advise them to look out for this particular virus:

advise them to do the sensible thing and install anti-virus software!