Please don't respond concerning this subject to the list, since viruses and worms are off-topic. If you have questions about your own state of protection against "malware," you can email me offlist at any of the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] While things are calmer than the last time I felt compelled to send out one of these alerts, you should still be updating your virus software at least weekly. Once again, this worm targets Microsoft Outlook/Outlook Express users. If you're still using one or the other of these products for email, ***please consider switching*** to a more secure (and capable) program. Two free email programs in particular are excellent, full-featured, widely used, and have been around for years -- and you can download either in minutes. They are: Eudora (free in Light [adware] version) http://www.eudora.com/email/ Pegasus Mail http://www.pmail.com/ Christopher Brooks, List Administrator: ==================================== BROOKS-NE (Brooks Families of New England), HAPGOOD, and MERRIAM lists at RootsWeb. ==================================== INFECTIOUS JAPANESE WORM SPREADS ACROSS THE INTERNET - ZDNet Reviews 3/14/2002 by Robert Vamosi http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2854544,00 .html A fast-spreading e-mail worm, possibly from Japan, is encircling the globe and flooding e-mail servers with excessive messages. Fbound ([email protected], also known as Zircon.C, DotJayPee, Fbound.b) is 12,288 bytes in length, and, unlike other recent worms, does not install itself on the infected machine but instead runs from memory. Mac and Linux users are not affected. Fbound is capable of sending large amounts of e-mail but does not damage or delete files on the infected computer. Because of the increasing reports of this worm around the world, Fbound currently ranks a 6 on the ZDNet Virus Meter. Fbound arrives by e-mail with the subject line "Important." If the recipient's computer language is set to Japanese or if the recipient's e-mail address ends with .jp, the subject line is chosen from 16 Japanese-language subject lines contained within the worm. There is no body text associated with this worm. The attached file is named patch.exe. If the attached file is opened, Fbound locates the infected user's SMTP server and e-mail address. Then the virus loads itself into memory and sends copies of itself to addresses found in the Windows Address Book