Re: Virus Warnings

[Gary Kern <gkern@alumni.Princeton.EDU>]

Dear Jüngerites:

Here in America (California) I have received a half-dozen warnings over
the last six months about the virus contained in an e-mail message
headed "Join the Crew."  Now I get another from the EJ list.  Every one
of these warnings was FORWARDED from some other source!  Now think about
it.  If you wanted to spread a virus by e-mail and had a devious mind,
what better way to accomplish your mission than by advising people to
forward a warning?  So far all the warnings have been benign, but I
still dislike receiving them because of the danger involved.

My advice is never to forward an e-mail containing a warning, or any
anonymous e-mail asking you to forward for any reason whatsoever.  If
you think the reason or warning may be valid, do not forward it, but
type it up fresh and send out that message.  Then, hopefully, you will
not have passed on any virus and when you turn off your computer it will
be for good.  I suspect, though, that even this method may contain a
risk.

There are different opinions as to whether e-mail messages can contain
bugs.  I have read an authoritative article stating that they cannot,
but a computer nerd friend who has helped me with Window 95 difficulties
and whom I therefore trust asserts that they can.

We'll all become infected by the filth of the world in time, we'll all
be covered by slime, but I'd like to hold back the horrors for a while.

GK