Close Topic Options

A helpful tip to fight an email worm

Here's a helpful tip that a friend of mine sent to me and I thought that I would share it with everyone.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ADDRESS BOOK;

I learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in it's simplicity. I received it from a friend.

As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer it heads straight for your e-mail address book, and sends itself to everyone in there, thus infecting all your friends and associates. This trick won't keep the virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address book to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact, that the worm has gotten into your system.

Here's what you do; first, open your address book and click on "new contact", Just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list of e-mail addresses. In the window where you would type your friend's first name, type in AAAAAAA, Also use address mailto: AAAAAAA@a.aaa

Now, Here's what you've done and why it works: The name AAAAAAA will be placed at the top of your address book as entry #1. This will be where the worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends. But, when it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA, it will be undeliverable because of the phony e-mail address you entered. If the first attempt fails (which it will because of the phony address), the worm goes no further and your friends will not be infected.

Here's the second great advantage of this method: If an e-mail cannot be delivered, you will be notified of this in your IN BOX almost immediately. Hence, if you ever get an e-mail telling you that an e-mail addressed to AAAAAAA could not be delivered, you know right away that you have the worm/virus in your system. You can then take steps to get rid of it!


And of course, last but most definitely not least, a real good antivirus program will help too

worm email fight tip helpful A

That is a good idea Msslm, but I am sure it covers only one kind of worm. The safest thing is to not open attachments or suspicious emails. I am sure there are other worms that do more than this (ignore first line, etc). However, I followed your instructions. Thanks for the tip.

A helpful tip to fight an email worm Gaming Video & Issues Computer

Yea, it does just cover the worm that hits your address book.  But I never open any emails that I don't know who they are from.  In fact, with me using an offline addy book, I usually preview what's in my online inbox before I download them to the puter.  Also, some of the junk mail is known for carrying viruses as well.  You can tell some of them by the way the subject line appears.  Like this one for example:  Refinance you home ahndkkgfh (the random letters after it signifies that it is a copy cat email virus that usually hits who ever is online, and is not specifically geared to your addy book).

worm email fight tip helpful A

Actually, I don't believe it really protects you at all because most newer viruses just send to everyone in your address book.  

Here is what symantec (makers of Norton Antivirus software) has to say about this "fix."

QUOTE

Symantec Security Response recommendations Although this is technically not a hoax--in theory, it could work with a few older worms and viruses--Symantec Security Response STRONGLY recommends that you ignore it. You should not rely on such "fixes" to prevent the spread of viruses, worms, and Trojans. Also, a hacker could exploit some variants of this message to make you more susceptible to loss of confidential information. The best defense against such threats is to have a current version of Norton AntiVirus installed, make sure that Auto-Protect is enabled, and update your virus definitions frequently. In addition, if you are on a network, or if you have a full-time connection to the Internet (such as cable or DSL), you should use firewall software.

You can go to https://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcen...book.entry.html to read the entire text.

I am not advertising for or suggesting the use of any particular antivirus program, but strongly urge everyone to be sure to run something reputible and keep it up to date.