Dear CAMARIPO listers, Normally, we do not discuss virus problems on this list. However, I am making an exception because this particular virus-worm is affecting some Rootsweb lists. Please be aware that I may temporarily unsubscribe infected machines to prevent further spread if necessary. If you have questions, please email me off-list. As many Rootsweb mail list subscribers know, it is impossible to receive an attachment born virus from Rootsweb because the list servers at Rootsweb remove all attachments before sending a posting onto a list. Nonetheless, some of the larger Rootsweb lists are currently having problems due a new virus called W32 Bad Trans, which is spread subscriber to subscriber in a new and novel way. This virus and its variants are of special concern to list subscribers. This virus targets users of Outlook email programs, and rather than send a copy of the virus to all the email addresses in the address book as in past, it sends a virus to all the email addresses that are in unopened email in the Inbox. For example, if subscriber A posts to a list and subscriber B has an infected computer, subscriber A will get a virus induced response from subscriber B that will contain a virus in the attachment. More worrisome, is that subscriber A anticipating a response may eagerly open the attachment only to find a virus that now infects their machine and the process of a widening infection continues. I know some subscribers are on many lists and it is a special hazard for them. Needless to say you will want to make doubly sure your virus protection software is updated and be especially careful when opening attachments. McAfee has issued the following information on this virus. McAfee - AVERT             Profile                         Virus Name Risk Assessment                         W32/Badtrans@MM Low                         Virus Characteristics                         This mass mailing worm attempts to send itself using                         Microsoft Outlook by replying to unread email messages.                         It also drops a remote access trojan (detected as                         Backdoor-NK.svr with the 4134 DATs; detected                         heuristically as New Backdoor prior to the 4134 DAT                         release).                         When run, the worm displays a message box entitled,                         "Install error" which reads, "File data corrupt:                         probably due to a bad data transmission or bad disk                         access." A copy is saved into the WINDOWS directory as                         INETD.EXE and an entry is entered into the WIN.INI file                         to run INETD.EXE at startup. KERN32.EXE (a backdoor                         trojan), and HKSDLL.DLL (a valid keylogger DLL) are                         written to the WINDOWS SYSTEM directory, and a registry                         entry is created to load the trojan upon system startup.                         HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\                         RunOnce\kernel32=kern32.exe                         Once running, the trojan attempts to mail the victim's                         IP Address to the author. Once this information is                         obtained, the author can connect to the infected system                         via the Internet and steal personal information such as                         usernames, and passwords. In addition, the trojan also                         contains a keylogger program which is capable of                         capturing other vital information such as credit card                         and bank account numbers and passwords.                         The next time Windows is loaded, the worm attempts to                         email itself by replying to unread messages in Microsoft                         Outlook folders. The worm will be attached to these                         messages using one of the following filenames (note that                         some of these filenames are also associated with other                         threats, such as W95/MTX.gen@M):                         Card.pif                         docs.scr                         fun.pif                         hamster.ZIP.scr                         Humor.TXT.pif                         images.pif                         New_Napster_Site.DOC.scr                         news_doc.scr                         Me_nude.AVI.pif                         Pics.ZIP.scr                         README.TXT.pif                         s3msong.MP3.pif                         searchURL.scr                         SETUP.pif                         Sorry_about_yesterday.DOC.pif                         YOU_are_FAT!.TXT.pif                         The message body may contain the text:                         Take a look to the attachment.                         AVERT first received an intended version of this worm                         (10,623 bytes) on April 11 from a company in New                         Zealand.       (c) 2001, Network Associates, Inc. and its affiliated Companies. All Rights       Reserved. Sharon CAMARIPO List step-mom