Hi Forward Lookers. Just a note on recent e-mails about viruses etc.
Alert number one: As I recently e-mailed the List, viruses are starting to
come in to List members. This is nothing to do with Dave or the List, but
rather is likely to come (1) from a List member whose address book has been
itself taken over by a virus, or (2) from your having sent a posting to
the Discussion Group, which then provides your e-mail for all to see.
Leaving your e-mail address posted anywhere leaves you vulnerable of
course, but there is NO DANGER UNLESS YOU OPEN THE VIRUS-CONTAINING
ATTACHMENTS. ..... by that I mean CLICKING WITH YOUR MOUSE ON ANY
HIGHLIGHTED TEXT referring to a file name in e-mails you receive.
Especially dangerous are files with the extensions (final three letters)
.bat, or .scr or .exe (I am sure there are others too). These are all
self-executing files that likely carry a virus with them.
Rule number one: don't open any attachments, even from someone you know
and trust, until you have sent back an e-mail to them confirming that they
sent you something.
Alert number two: George Bird recently sent out a virus alert advising you
to look for a file called jdbgmgr.exe and to delete it. DO NOT DELETE THIS
FILE!! It is a necessary file for your computer to function, and this is a
hoax that first made the rounds a few months ago. Hopefully you didn't
eliminate this file on your computer George. Actually if you did, then you
won't even be reading this e-mail in any case!!
Don't just rely on your virus protection software, but exercise a little
judgement of your own if you want to be secure. People who send out
viruses are as much terrorists as the murdering sort: they want to
undermine our sense of security and hit us where we live. Be a little
vigilant and you won't have to worry about them.
It's tempting to say "I told you so", but I'm not that irritating kind of
guy :-)) so I won't.
Bob O.
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