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[TenTec] weird postings virus?

To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: [TenTec] weird postings virus?
From: mandolinist@interlync.com (Gary Smith)
Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 21:47:40 -0500
I'd sent this out early Sun Afternoon but didn't send it to 
the list... Sorry for the delay, I just now discovered it 
didn't get out...

________  Earlier message below_______________

Hi,

Forgive my OT response to this but since members of 
the reflector are mentioning this, let me add to it.

I use Pegasus for email. Pegasus isn't immune to viri 
but it's been designed to be a chore for viri to work with. 
It's free & is here:

http://www.pmail.com

99.9% of the viri single out Microsoft Outlook & the 
windows address book. I never use either, never have & 
never will. There's nothing for a virus to latch onto as 
regards outlook or the address book.

When I download any file from the web, I use Getright 
and have that file checked by Norton 2002 when the 
download is completed. Getright lets you select an 
antivirus program to check each download which it 
completes.

http://www.getright.com

I use Norton Internet Security for my firewall and for the 
antivirus protection. Everything including email I 
download is checked by Norton 2002 (part of NIS). 
Norton 2002 checks my outgoing email to be sure no 
virus leaves me.

Considering I keep my Logging program (Logic 6) on 
the computer, I don't want to loose anything and this 
keeps me clean as a whistle.

If you want to tremendously reduce your chances of 
getting or sending a viri, Norton will be a real help & 
ditching Microsoft's email & address book will help 
tremendously in case some new & undiscovered viri 
gets past the antivirus program.

( I use WinXP but have to say that Microsoft seems too 
arrogant about it's operating systems and never seems 
to listen to outside groups warning of "holes" in their 
security). Seems like most every problem identified 
where viri/trojans get into Microsoft's software are 
caught by outsiders & then MS plays catchup.

go to http://grc.com/intro.htm which is the Gibson 
Research Corporation's website. (If you haven't heard 
of Gibson, a google search will enlighten you. He's been 
on NPR many times as an authority in web protection). 
There are many free security tests on this page to see 
how vulnerable your computer is to viri/hacking and 
there are many sections on this page where anyone 
with windows operating systems can go to, to read 
about MS vulnerabilities and how to correct them.

If... you do the above advice, export your data to 
Pegasus and then delete your email.address material 
from Outlook & the MS address book so that any future 
virus won't have anything to send from/to. 

As always, do a backup of all original files that you can't 
otherwise recover in case of a virus or hard drive crash.

I'm a doctor & part time musician, not a software 
engineer though my first dealings with the computer 
was at the Lahey Clinic in Boston in 1972 with the IBM 
1060 in the lab. I've been involved with computers ever 
since to one end or another and as such, understand 
the only one responsible for your computer safety is 
you, not a company who makes software with swiss 
cheese security.

Gary
KA1J

> Don't stomp Mike over the postings- he's not hosting it.  The virus doing
> the postings is well documented in 
> 
> http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.klez.h@mm.html

<snip>

> The easy way to avoid propogating the virus, is to have such an obsolete
> system that it doesn't work.  So far, I've been unsuccessfully attacked
> about 40 times, and since this machine supports essentially nothing
> (including decoding attachments) it just doesn't get here.  (I use the
> other machines for the 'real' stuff).
> 
> Take a look at the description, and the covariants.  There's also a free
> elimination program if you've got the bug.
> 
> DK  :-)
> 
> At 12:15 PM 05/12/2002 -0400, you wrote:
> >Have you had your    OUTGOING email scanned by Norton? While
> >Norton has been catching any k l e z junk here (as far as I
> >know) hopefully the outgoing screen will kill anything that
> >is missed???
Gary

Gary Smith

http://musician.dyndns.org

"Man is a social creature who does not like his fellow 
beings"
     - Mark Twain -



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