Warning: Don't Open Any Mail With WTC

[MrsLop]

Hello All,

A friend of mine emailed to let me know of another

virus using the World Trade Center as a subject and it

will come bearing the name of someone you know.

It wipes out some things on your hard drive.

Blast this memory of mine, I can't remember what, but I

will get back and edit this when I find out what.

It is expected to be making its way around within the

next few weeks.

God Bless,

MrsLop

Macland...and I say to myself,  "It's a wonderful world."

[giantmike]

The WTC virus is a hoax: http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/articles/wtc.html

Even if it was real, most likely Macs would not be affected by it.

[MrsLop]

Hi Giant Mike,

Thanks for that information.

I do have a question, if my ISP uses a Microsoft based

program for my mail would a "real" virus adversely effect

me, even if I am on a Mac?

Thanks,

Myrna

[kelly]

No Myrna. You are 99.999% safe from Viruses on your mac.

You have a better chance of getting hit by lightening.

[ljocampo]

Myrna:  I have been online using macs for over 15 years now, and I have NEVER got a virus yet.  I do have virus software, but it's enabled because it's more trouble than it's worth.  I do use a firewall though because I am on a cable modem.  I wouldn't worry about virus in the mac world.  They do exist but it's like winning the lottery    

[ljocampo]

correction:  it's NOT enabled

[pendragon]

Myrna, Just to add my 2¢...

Like all above have said, it is most unlikely you will ever enconter a Mac virus, so in that regard, not to worry.

There are however, viri (mainly in M$ documents) that while they won't affect your Mac, can still be forwarded to your PC friends. And then your friends may conclude you sent the virus to them. Aside from that, fuggedaboudit.

Harv

[MrsLop]

Morning kelly,

Thanks!

Myrna

[MrsLop]

ljocampo,

Well, that's one lottery I hope none of us wins! LOL

God Bless,
Myrna

[MrsLop]

Harv,

Aha!  So, I won't get the viri, but I can pass it along to

my friends.  

You can be sure that I will not engage in any further

warnings until I have checked the veracity of the

claims being made.

By the way,  I sent my AOL friend (a Pea Sea, as Dick

put it, user), the information that she was passing on

misinformation.  I softened the blow by saying that I

thought her heart was in the right place and I

appreciated the gesture.


    Myrna

[RHPConsult]

Good Morning, Myrna:

We're just back from a great vacation trip to the Eastern Provinces (aka Ohio!) and so, naturally, I'm checking-in on TS - and, of course, there's MrsLop

The "friends" who will claim that their "friends", well-meaning but misguided, have absolute and certain knowledge of all manner of things that will eat your hard drive may, over time, make the following URL valuable to you. Occasionally in the past, I've even gotten stuff like your "warning" from professionals who report that their children (always in the computer industry) have learned about these alarms at their work!

Helping set your firends straight about such dread warnings is something you can do to limit the transmission of hoaxes . . . of all sorts. So, bookmark this site and use it with abandon . . .

Checking on Urban Legends

It even makes interesting reading, in and of itself.

Interesting, if disappointing, when one thinks how the virtual village of the internet makes transmission of this noisey junk just that much easier.

My personal experience with viri and such is as follows: The only one I ever encountered was of a genus called "worm" that got into an early Mac of mine from a corrupted floppy at a Kinko's . . . in 1987!  The worm did its evil deed(s),  but a back-up of my data saved the day.

Most of us would assert that today's spam is a much more vexing concern, for Mac owners.

One good piece of general advice is never to open "stuff" from someone you don't know.

And of course express sympathy (on every possible occasion) to you your Windoze friends for the burdens they bear.

My 1.5¢, to add to Harv's 2¢

[MrsLop]

Well, at last the roving gentleman from California

is back -  Hello,Dick,

Your advice is, as usual, witty and sound.

About the "spam", AOL rumor has it that you have been

branded a "notorious spammer", but do they know

something we at TS don't?  LOL

I don't want to get you started on the "nittwittery is

alive and well.." issue.  I am just having some light

hearted new fashioned fun.  ( I must be getting a little

better.)

So happy to have you back here on the TS Board.

How is Lil ?  How was the reunion?

Myrna
 

[RHPConsult]

QUOTE

How is Lil ?

No pain.
No cane.
In our domain

QUOTE

How was the reunion?

I'll let the 3d generation "speak" for itself
Reunion "Consumers" HERE

Rural Ohio in the summer is a  place apart.

[MrsLop]

Dick,

-and a good time was had by all!

I am very happy that Lil is doing so very well.

God Bless,

Myrna

[Paddy]

As the keeper of an email list that numbers over 150 recipients at the moment, I spend an inordinate amount of time informing otherwise intelligent, skeptical people, that the virus warning they have just sent me is a hoax.   I direct them to various hoax sites or Symantec (who maintain a hoax list) or suggest that in the future they do a Google search on "name of hoax/supposed virus" + hoax - which almost ALWAYS turns up the required info. I would estimate that 99.99% of all virus or product warnings that I've received via email are hoaxes. It has gotten to the point that I assume that these "warnings" are hoaxes unless I can prove otherwise. I have yet to prove otherwise - still looking for that 0.01%!!

Then of course, I have to spend time sorting out the people who DO actually have viruses (and have been sending them to me). Needless to say, they're all using PeeCees. The irony of course, is that I, a Mac-user who would no more use my PeeCee for receiving email than jump off the nearest bridge, ends up spending hours sorting out the beleaguered PC users. And none of them have ever shown any interest in acquiring a Mac - they simply seem to accept the virus problems as a "fact of life" - even when it takes them 10 hours to sort out their PC and multiple calls to M$ tech support. I think I would be safe in saying that over 90% of them have no specific requirements for Windoze - a Mac would suit them just fine. Sigh.

So Myrna, tell your friend who was "hoaxed" that she is in good company. I've had people with PhD's send me warnings that turned out to be hoaxes. The power of the written word, and the way that these hoaxes are constructed (usually with a seemingly unimpeachable, utterly plausible source) makes them seem far more "real" than something your neighbor tells you, while you chat over the back fence.