I forgot to include this information which was sent to another list that I'm on and I thought that I'd share it with you. I apologize for sending 2 posts about a virus, but I felt this was important. ~Etta > "There is a new virus making the rounds that responds to mail marked > unread in a person's Inbox. It will grab the subject line of the > message it is responding to....It appears that one person infected a > lot of computers on the Surber list, as several of our members are > passing this around. One way you can tell that this is a virus is that > it changes the address of the person sending the message. There is an > underscore _ in front of the address making the messages bounce. If you > remove that underscore, you can then correspond with the person telling > them that they have a virus as they may not know it." This same person then e-mailed this information, which I have put into practice already. It is very easy to do, and might save all of us a lot of trouble. ~Etta > "Trick your address book! > > Who among us doesn't know someone who has experienced the embarrassment > of > unknowingly spreading a computer virus via their email address book? > It's time to STOP this from happening by TAKING CONTROL of your email > program! For those who are unaware, many computer viruses spread > themselves > by sending themselves to everyone in your address book. > Imagine how you would feel if you were unknowingly infected with a > computer > virus, and worse yet, your friends, family, and business contacts were > being > targeted by your computer! Well, if you want to avoid this sort of > thing, > here's a great tip: > > This tip won't prevent YOU from getting any viruses (you have to scan > those > attachments yourself before opening them to do that), but it will stop > those > viruses from latching onto your address book and sending itself out to > others. > > To avoid spreading computer viruses, create a contact in your email > address > book with the name : !0000 with no email address in the details (using > this > puts it at the top of your contact list in your address book). > > This contact will then show up as your first contact. If a virus > attempts to do a "send all" on your contact list, your PC will put up an > error message saying that: "The Message could not be sent. One or more > recipients do not have an e-mail address. Please check your Address Book > and > make sure all the recipients have a valid e-mail address." > > You click on OK and the offending (virus) message would not have been > sent > to anyone. Of course no changes have been made to your original contacts > list. The offending (virus) message may then be automatically stored in > your > "Drafts" or "Outbox" folder. Go in there and delete the offending > message. > Problem is solved and virus is not spread. > > Try this and pass on to your email contacts. The more people that use > this > technique, the less vulnerable we will be to viruses that spread in this > manner! > > I also noted that it asks you for a name when you add the new contact so > I > put in !0000 again and Outlook Express took it as a new contact. > > Gail Meÿer Kilgore > List Hostess > Casa Grande, AZ" > > I hope this helps someone out there. ~Etta > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 2:37 PM > Subject: Re: [ALLEN-NE] Warning to list > > > > I also received this and noticed the _ before the name when it wouldn't > > except a reply from me. I eliminated the _ and got thru to Phyllis, she > > didn't send it and had received something from someone also. The one I > > received was Subject: Re:Re: William J. Allen, and because I thot it was > > "family" I downloaded it, the name of the file was "Hamster". The screen > was > > blank and I do not know if I received a virus or not. Thank you for > putting > > this out to the list. J. Finn > > > > > > ==== ALLEN-NE Mailing List ==== > > If you wish to switch how you are getting messages, you need to > unsubscribe from the current list, and subscribe to the new one. > > > > > ==== ALLEN-NE Mailing List ==== > Remember to read your welcome message; you were supposed to have printed a copy of it. It gives all the commands and other important information. >

If you don't want to purchase a virus scan program, download Zone Alarm. It's a free firewall that has caught all the viruses I've been receiving. If you click on the attachment, the Zone Alarm icon shows up to let you know not to open it. I don't have the URL handy ,but you can find Zone Alarm through a search engine and download the free version. Anita