Kathy, I am NOT writing this message in any anger directed at you, but only as a precautionary use to others on the list. I know that it was entirely out of your hands and if you could do it over again, you wouldn't have opened the attachment. ME EITHER!!! But...... Unfortunately, I was one of those IN-fected with that virus. I had just sent you a personal message and received one back from you within two minutes. I thought, "Boy, is she fast!!" Upon seeing what the 'forwarded' message read, though, I did question it, but went ahead and opened it. About two minutes after that, I received your message about NOT opening any attachments from you. That explained why my computer went crazy, but it was too late to stop the damage. I immediately shut my computer off and took it to a computer technician the next morning. At first, he deleted all the applications where the worm was found, but the worm was still there. He then tried running a sophisticated type of de-bugging program to see if that would solve the problem, but that didn't either. The worm had imbedded itself into ALL my files. Everything had to be deleted from my hard drive. When Windows was re-installed the bug was STILL there, as it had infected the computers memory. As you said, this bug is so new that there is not a 'quick fix' for it at the moment. The comp. tech. had to reformat but eventually got my Windows back on. Thank goodness!! The REAL work is ahead of me as I try to use a previous backup to reinstall my files, which are on 150 DISKETTES!! As you explained, this virus is sent to any UNREAD messages in our email. THANKFULLY, I had read my messages and only received 4 while I was searching the internet for information on this virus. Those 4 were from Rootsweb lists and the messages containing the virus were returned to me as undeliverable, since Rootsweb does not accept attachments. But I have heard that some viruses attack your address book addresses, so I placed several calls around the country to see if it had affected any of those. It didn't! I only wish that the 'people' (figuratively speaking) who invent these viruses had to pay each person's repair expenses, plus PAIN and SUFFERING!! Don't you? If I'm not able to retrieve all my three years work, I will be heartsick. My cost to have my computer restored was high. I can't begin to fathom the total amount of money that this virus will have cost before it is stopped. Two good things came from this: 1. - I will not open any suspicious attachments, and especially those with .EXE on the end!! I hope that this helps anyone to think twice about opening attachments. 2. - I will now buy a different type backup. To heck with those diskettes! It is so important to have a reliable backup at least once a month if you save a lot of messages and/or add things to your research programs. No more thinking that things like this won't happen to me! I'll still be around looking for my ARMSTRONG's and DUNN's in Trigg & Lyon Co. Cynthia Chumley Farmington, NM -----Original Message----- From: MICHAEL MARTINEZ [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2000 6:33 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [KYTRIGG] another virus/worm on the loose First, let me apologize to anyone who may have been affected/infected by a email post of mine.