Dear friends, To my surprise, I received an e-mail letter, yesterday afternoon, which was in response to an alert I sent to a Rootsweb mail list last spring. This letter obviously came from someone who had read the posting, probably in the mail list archive, (it may not have been a subscriber - it may have been a hacker). It contained some derogatory comments directed at some other (unnamed) list subscriber and an e-mail attachment (an ".exe" file) which the e-mail encouraged me to open. I did what any intelligent user would do in this situation - I DELETED IT!!! Though this letter was obviously sent to me by someone else, it's return address was my address. This supports the idea that it was a hacker or spammer. But since the e-mail came with the subject of a Rootseb mail list, it raises the idea that perhaps someone has gained access to the Rootsweb list archives and is using them to send prank letters to list subscribers. Then, this morning, I got another one, supposedly from a member on another list. The text of the email was exactly the same and, like the first one, it contained an ".exe" file that I was encouraged to open. The Rootsweb network routinely filters out all attachments specifically to prevent this sort of thing, but it seems that someone is using e-mail addresses that appear on the list to send prank mail to. There are already enough virus-scares out there and I'm not trying to start another one. I just want to remind you of a very basic rule of computer common sense - IF YOU GET AN ATTACHMENT AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS OR WHO SENT IT TO YOU, DELETE IT!! AND IF YOU KNOW THE PERSON WHO SUPPOSEDLY SENT IT TO YOU, E-MAIL THEM AND DOUBLE-CHECK!!! Just a word to the wise. Regards, and Best Holiday Wishes to ALL - Peace on Earth - Goodwill to Humankind!! Byron Bray [email protected] Proud Rootsweb Donor Vice-President, Linn Genealogical Society Linn County, Oregon LGS website: www.rootsweb.com/~orlinngs/ ICQ number: 8223914 AIM handle: Byroji Listowner: BOVEE-L list ([email protected]) COVERT-L list ([email protected]) Researching: BOVEE, BOICE, BRAY, CARD, FLAGLER, FULLER, GRANT, HASKINS, SIMPSON, VAN AUKEN, WALKER