Jen and MAMA-Star
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble 
remembering how to fly."
Author unknown
AIM: jenibear1998
msn
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brent Reynolds" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Tse-friends] Tse-friends virus


>
> Hoax Alert!  Hoax alert!  Bogus!  Bogus!  Bogus!
> I will quote this and intersperse the red-flag warnings you should all 
> know
> by now to prove this is a stupid hoax.  In fact, this type of so-called
> virus alert is almost like a virus itself, in that the original creator of
> this thing hopes you will do what you just did, and send it around
> everywhere and get everybody you know to send it out everywhere.  If 
> enough
> people forward this message to everybody they know, it will actually clog
> file servers, especially ones on big corporate networks to the point that
> they shut down.  This would also be know as a "denial of service" attack,
> whereby you send the server so many requests for data in such a short 
> time,
> that the server can not send out real and legitimate information.
>
> Now, let's look at this trash, which you should have first checked out at
> sites like:
>
> http://www.snopes.com/
> http://www.urbanlegends.com/
> http://www.datafellows.com/
>
> and the sites of your favorite antivirus software programs, just to name a
> few.
>
> On 2006-02-24 [log in to unmask] said:
>    Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 8:16 PM
>
> Here comes your first red flag, the one about please forward it around to
> your family and friends, and anybody else:
>
>    PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS:
>    You should be alert during the next days:
>    Do not open any message with an attached filed called
>    "Invitation"
>    regardless of who sent it .
>
> Now, notice how vague this is.  Notice you're not getting any real
> description of this file and what is in it.
>
>
> NOw, here is the scare tactic which anybody who knows even the most
> elementary thing about the purpose of a computer virus will recognize as
> something that no virus writer would do.
>
>    It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole
>    hard disc
>    C of your computer.
>
> The reason that a computer virus is called a virus is that it is intended 
> to
> be spread from one computer to another, either by riding along in some 
> kind
> of file, or being loaded onto it from an outside source like a disk of 
> some
> sort.  Since a hard disk is a piece of hardware, it can not be physically
> destroyed by a computer virus, which is software.   If the virus writer 
> did
> something that would wipe out the data on your disk, it would not be
> possible for your computer to spread the virus to any other computers, 
> since
> by destroying the data on your hard disk, the virus would also destroy
> itself, which would defeat the only reason for its existence in the first
> place.
>
> NOw, you get more warnings to spread it, and the reason given is really
> lame.  Thanks to tricks like spoofing, if you got such a real virus, the
> email address listed in the from: field would nowadays most likely not be
> the computer that actually sent it to you.  So this one repeats the first
> big warning sign that this is not a virus warning, you know, the one about
> sending it on to everybody on the planet.
>
> This virus will be received from someone who
>    has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you
>    should send this e-mail to
>    all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times
>    than to receive the virus and open it.
> ----SNIP----
>
> NOw, another classic tip-off that this is a hoax:
>
>    This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by
>    Microsoft
>    as the most destructive virus ever.
>    This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no
>    repair yet for this kind of virus.
>
> Notice, "the worst ever announced by CNN".  So, on what date did CNN make
> this announcement?  Why is it the worst?  Note also, MicroSoft is not in 
> the
> business of virus classification or announcement.  Oh, McAfee discovered 
> it
> yesterday, did they?  So when was this yesterday?  Was it the yesterday 
> back
> when this same wording appeared with very slightly different wording and
> names back ten years ago?
>
> Also, rest assured that there is no type of virus for which there is no 
> fix
> / repair / cure.
>
>    This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc,where
>    the vital
>    information is kept.
>
> MOre nonsense.  And, here is yet a third urging to send it on to everybody
> you know.  Actually, this virus warning hoax has to be one of the lamest
> ones I've seen in the past ten years of internet activity, and three years
> of computer bulletin board system (BBS) activity before that.
>
>    SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND IT
>    TO YOUR FRIENDS AND REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL
>    BENEFIT ALL OF US.
> ----SNIP----
>
> Now, if you think I don't know what I'm talking about, go check this one 
> out
> at the sites I mentioned earlier.  You'll see it and dozens more almost
> exactly like it.
>
> NOw, a real honest virus warning will give some technical detail about
> exactly what is in the file that spreads it, how it really works, how you
> can recognize if your computer has it, how to get rid of it, and how to
> limit, or even repair, the damage it might do to you.  A real warning will
> also tell you when and where it first appeared, it will name names of 
> people
> and quote them verbatim when they talk about it and what you should really
> do.  A real virus warning never urges you to be sure to email it to
> everybody in your contact lists and urge them to do the same.  The only
> usual thing this one forgot to include is the part about how the sender's
> buddy who is a good friend of somebody who works at a major computer 
> company
> or other well-known company told him how hideously malicious and 
> monsterous
> this virus is, and he ought to know because he works for Compaq / IBM /
> Digital Equipment / MicroSoft, etc.  Never mind that Digital Equipment 
> went
> away more than a decade ago.
>
>
>
> Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA  USA
> Phone: 1-404-814-0768  Email: [log in to unmask]
>
> Did your computer have a virus, or was it just running Windows?
> .
>
>
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