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Rumour has it that a particularly nasty Trojan horse virus, is floating around the net. It pretends to be the latest PK Zip software and hides in a file named PKZIP300.* Of course, the golden rule here is don't open any file you receive as an attachment until you know what it is!
We haven't seen it yet, and cannot confirm or deny its 'destructive power', but my mailbox has been flooded with warnings - click here to read them. If you have come across it, or know someone who has, please let us know.
Good Times
For some months there has been another virus scare weaving its way around the web concerning a virus called Good Times, that does not need files to be exchanged at all. It allegedly works by coming in over your EMail Click here for EMailed warning
This is a hoax !
Any news, particularly involving nasty things on the net/in the wood shed/in someone's imagination, please tell us...
Be careful out there WebSurfers. Cyberspace can a dangerous and deceptive place! Remember, when you want it straight, come back to the New Millennium!
Here is another spoof EMail received at New Millennium offices recently...
The FCC released a warning last Wednesday concerning a matter of major importance to any regular user of the Internet. Apparently a new computer virus has been engineered by a user of AMERICA ON LINE that is unparalleled in its destructive capability. Other more well-known viruses such as "Stoned", "Airwolf" and "Michaelangelo" pale in comparison to the prospects of this newest creation by a warped mentality. What makes this virus so terrifying, said the FCC, is the fact that no program needs to be exchanged for a new computer to be infected. It can be spread through the existing email systems of the Internet. Once a Computer is infected, one of several things can happen. If the computer contains a hard drive, that will most likely be destroyed. If the program is not stopped, the computer's processor will be placed in an nth-complexity infinite binary loop -which can severely damage the processor if left running that way too long.
Unfortunately, most novice computer users will not realize what is happening until it is far too late. Luckily, there is one sure means of detecting what is now known as the "Good Times" virus. It always travels to new computers the same way in a text email message with the subject line reading "Good Times". Avoiding infection is easy once the file has been received simply by NOT READING IT! The act of loading the file into the mail server's ASCII buffer causes the "Good Times" mainline program to initialize and execute.
The program is highly intelligent- it will send copies of itself to everyone whose email address is contained in a receive-mail file or a sent-mail file, if it can find one. It will then proceed to trash the computer it is running on. The bottom line there is- if you receive a file with the subject line "Good Times", delete it immediately! Do not read it" Rest assured that whoever's name was on the "From" line was surely struck by the virus. Warn your friends and local system users of this newest threat to the Internet! It could save them a lot of time and money.
Could you pass this along to your global mailing list as well?
George H. Bowers
Vice President for Information Systems
University of Maryland Medical System
410-328-2579 (fax) 410-328-0572
gbowers@umms_itg.ab.umd.edu
And another ...
Subject: FW: New and Dangerous Viruspp For your information ...
DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY FILE nameD PKZIP300 REGARDLESS OF THE EXTENSION
WARNING!!!!! Read the following and take note for those of you who access the web and ftp sites. . . BEWAREppp Notify your friends and family and total strangers too!!! We don't want to deal with anything like this what-so-ever!!!
A NEW Trojan Horse Virus has emerged on the internet with the name PKZIP300.ZIP, so named as to give the impression that this file is a new version of the PKZIP software used to "ZIP" (compress) files.
DO NOT DOWNLOAD this file under any circumstances!!! If you install or expand this file, the virus WILL wipe your hard disk clean and affect modems at 14.4 and higher. This is an extremely destructive virus and there is NOT yet a way of cleaning up this one.
REPEAT: DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY FILE nameD PKZIP300 REGARDLESS OF THE EXTENSION
Richard D. Richins
College of Engineering
University of California, Riverside
Sincerely,
David K. Chung
Business Development Manager
Novell, Inc.
2180 Fortune Drive
MS: F6-22-1
San Jose, CA 95131
e-mail: DCHUNG@Novell.com
108 577-8683: Direct
408 577-5440: Fax
