Just to re-iterate what Christine said, if you do not have a virus checker you should a) get one immediately b) update it on-line at least once a week - last week alone saw 26 new viruses added to the list Also go for either Norton or McAffee. I had a brand new computer last year which came complete with a virus checker called PC-Cillin, and it failed to protect me from the Kakworm, which had already been known about for 6 months at the time I bought the computer. By the way, the dreaded Kakworm is about again and my Norton checker has intercepted three infected e-mails from mailing lists recently (not the Sutherland list). It is particularly nasty because you do not have to open an attachment or even click on the e-mail to be infected, you only need to download the e-mail. It attacks users of Outlook Express (I never use OE now) and sets itself up as a default signature, which is INVISIBLE and is sent out with every message you send, so that you infect people in all innocence. With Eudora (the e-mail program I now use) you can immediately see that the message takes up far more bytes than the text should warrant, but with OE there is no clue as to what size the incoming message is and everything seems to be normal. To check whether your computer is infected press Start/Find/Files and type in KAK.HTA. If you have this file you are infected, and deleting the file is insufficient as it will simply return when you boot up the computer again. If anyone gets it and needs step by step instructions on permanently removing it let me know. Sue Mackay

Having been informed that the Norton program "guaranteed" that a private email that I had sent contained a virus, I re-scanned my files using my McAfee program. No virus was detected. I also went to the McAfee site (mentioned in Sue MacKay's note) for their free on-line virus scan (It seemed like hours and involved some 47,000 files). Again, no virus was detected. With my brother's consent, I sent him an email, asking him to check it through his Norton program. No virus. But, he said, this was not the email that I had sent to my contact and asked that I forward it to him. I did so. It was a text file and contained no attachments. No virus. I do not use Microsoft Outlook. I NEVER, ever open ".exe" files. I rarely open any attachments unless they are jpegs and then only if I know the sender. I could not understand how my program might have been infected and, in fact, the tests indicate it is not. It seems that some warnings are "false positives". But, as always, "better safe than sorry". Rena >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< On 4/20/2001, 2:18:13 PM, Sue Mackay <sue.mackay@virgin.net> wrote regarding Virus Checkers: > Just to re-iterate what Christine said, if you do not have a virus checker > you should > a) get one immediately > b) update it on-line at least once a week - last week alone saw 26 new > viruses added to the list > Also go for either Norton or McAffee. I had a brand new computer last year > which came complete with a virus checker called PC-Cillin, and it failed to > protect me from the Kakworm, which had already been known about for 6 > months at the time I bought the computer. > By the way, the dreaded Kakworm is about again and my Norton checker has > intercepted three infected e-mails from mailing lists recently (not the > Sutherland list). It is particularly nasty because you do not have to open > an attachment or even click on the e-mail to be infected, you only need to > download the e-mail. It attacks users of Outlook Express (I never use OE > now) and sets itself up as a default signature, which is INVISIBLE and is > sent out with every message you send, so that you infect people in all > innocence. With Eudora (the e-mail program I now use) you can immediately > see that the message takes up far more bytes than the text should warrant, > but with OE there is no clue as to what size the incoming message is and > everything seems to be normal. To check whether your computer is infected > press Start/Find/Files and type in KAK.HTA. If you have this file you are > infected, and deleting the file is insufficient as it will simply return > when you boot up the computer again. If anyone gets it and needs step by > step instructions on permanently removing it let me know. > Sue Mackay > ==== SCT-SUTHERLAND Mailing List ==== > You may, at times, wish to check out previous messages to this list. You can do this at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/SCT-SUTHERLAND-L/ > ============================== > Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 > Source for Family History Online. Go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB