Original Message ----- From: "Ken Boonie" <kab9@pennswoods.net> To: <PAHUNTIN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2001 6:38 AM Subject: A helpful hint > I got this from another list. Thought with all the malicious viruses > being developed it would be worth letting others know. > > Jim Tremble wrote: > > > > Hello Listers > > > > You may want to try the following to prevent the spread of these viruses. No > > one is stealing your email address and sending virus to the list. A computer > > will get infected and attack your email address book. They are being sent > > with out your knowledge. See Below, > > > > 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. > > > > 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 hope this will help everyone who is interested. > > > > > PS: I use Outlook Express which will not allow me to enter a new contact without an email address. To solve the problem, type one letter/number. You will get the message that it is not a valid address, but you can add it any way.