With regard to the Kak worm virus, I have already suffered an attack from
this though I understand this was by way of my browser IE5 rather than
Outlook express.
I cannot remember the fix for this but apparently one countermeasure is to
set IE5 so that scripts can not automatically run. There is also an upgrade
---From Microsoft which prevents this.
The moral of the story is to regularly run anti virus checks on your system
(I do this to all my files, not just the exe ones).
We use Mac Afee which seems to be as good as any and only costs about $30.
The upgrades are free and it is very important that you update your virus
database on a weekly basis. If any dangerous viruses are found worldwide Mac
Afee emails a warniing to all its subscribers.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Krzyzewski" <tonyk@kaon.co.nz>
Subject: RE: [off-topic] Re: Kakworm
>
>
> >According to last week's New Scientist there are now viruses that
> >infect your PC as soon as a text message is opened.
>
> It is an unfortunate fact that Outlook Express has a couple of holes that
> can cause attachments
> to activate as soon as the email is opened. Opening a message that does
not
> have attachments
> CANNOT cause viruses to be introduced onto your system.
>
> MS Outlook has a similar problem but Microsoft does as a fix for this.
There
> is NO fix for Outlook Express.
>
> So...
>
> If you only open mail messages without attachments you don't have a
problem.
> If you open mail messages with attachments and are also using Outlook
> Express you
> should ensure that you have a virus scanner installed AND update the
scanner
> weekly.
> Never, never, never open an attachment that is a .EXE or .VBS even if it
is
> from
> someone you trust - they may not know that they sent it to you.
>
> If I got $100 for every time I got called out to fix problems caused by
> people disobeying
> these basic rules I'd .... oh, I do.
>
> And with that, may I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Great New
> Year
>
> Happy Building
>
> Tony
>
>
|