Genealogy Chat

I learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in its simplicity. 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: > First, open your address book and click on "new contact," just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list of email addresses. In the window where you would type your friend's first name, type in AAAAAAA. Same in space labeled screen name. > Now, here's what you've done and why it works: > The "name" AAAAAAA will be placed at the top of your address book as 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 AAAAAAA, it will be undeliverable because of the phony email address you entered. 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 Inbox almost immediately. Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an email addressed to AAA 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 it! > Pretty slick huh? > If everybody you know does this then you need not ever worry about opening mail! from friends. > > Pass this on to all your friends. Jill

Jill, What an ingenious idea, I'm off to sort my address book out now. Thanks!!! Sam xx

Jill, What an ingenious idea, I'm off to sort my address book out now. Thanks!!! Sam xx

WHAT A BRILLIANT TIP.

That works until some clever person puts Smileys in front of their address, and their name then goes above the AAAAA one. Jan.

Great idea Jill Thanks for posting it Maxine

Great idea - have passed onto my friends Regards Shirley

Great idea - have passed onto my friends Regards Shirley

This trick was given in a thread a few weeks ago, it really doesnt work, the worm virus can still infect everyone from your address book. The only sure way of stopping a virus is with up to date anti virus software. Make sure your anti virus is always up to date and check for microsoft updates to make your system more secure.

Here's the Symantec write up about this: Symantec Security Response recommendations Although this is technically not a hoax--in theory, it could work with a few older worms and viruses--Symantec Security Response STRONGLY recommends that you ignore it. You should not rely on such "fixes" to prevent the spread of viruses, worms, and Trojans. Also, a hacker could exploit some variants of this message to make you more susceptible to loss of confidential information. The best defense against such threats is to have a current version of Norton AntiVirus installed, make sure that Auto-Protect is enabled, and update your virus definitions frequently. In addition, if you are on a network, or if you have a full-time connection to the Internet (such as cable or DSL), you should use firewall software. Crista

Hi all What a response,I only put it on cause I thought it would help with all the worms and viruses going around,I do have norton and firewall plus I don't no what that my son has put on (it's his computer he has two and he lets me use this one) so I was just trying to help.sorry!!!! Jill

jillian hi,thanks so much for this info its great i'll send it to as many as i can , thanks again tinax

jillian hi,thanks so much for this info its great i'll send it to as many as i can , thanks again tinax

Jillian, No need to apologize for be helpful. I was concerned about the following line though. "Also, a hacker could exploit some variants of this message to make you more susceptible to loss of confidential information" See http://securityresponse.symantec(.)com/avcenter/venc/data/trick.address.book.entry.html Crista

We have used !000 for the name in our address book and then the e-mail address is shown as worm alert. We have been using this for years and it has worked for us. Of course there may be new technology now that makes using an exclamation mark followed by 3 zeros obsolute - but we were told to use it by a specialist when we first bought our computer and as I said we have had no problems. Penny