SCN: E-mail viruses & worms.

[J. Johnson]

This message is for those of you that download e-mail (whether from SCN or
else where) and read it with the usual Microsoft software.  If you login
to SCN to read your e-mail (without downloading it) you need not worry,
even if you do receive infected e-mail.

We see a relatively small but steady stream of messages containing e-mail
worms trying to infect other PCs.  (Worms differ from viruses in that they
will run on their own.)  The latest worms go through your files looking
for e-mail addresses of your friends and associates to send infected
messages to. This can be pretty embarassing!

These worms can do this automatically because of some egregiously bad
"features" in MS software, such as the the _default_ behavior of
automatically opening e-mail attachments and running them.  It is strongly
recommended by all authorities that these be turned off, and other
protective measures taken.  

If you need assistance in protecting your machine there are various sites
that can assist you, such as CERT (www.cert.org), which also has links to
the principal anti-virus software sites.  Please check them out.

=== JJ =============================================================

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