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Archiver > IADECATU > 2001-10 > 1002238541


From: "kim hopkins" <>
Subject: Re: Family picture virus / hoax
Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2001 16:35:41 -0700
References: <000901c14c84$d2180c70$047ca5d0@self15ytv2g0dz>


I did get an email asking if it was a picture of me. It sent a virus to
everyone I work with AND crashed my hard drive.

Bill Horst wrote:

> Just a little piece of advice on viruses. When they say things like
> "They can delete your entire hard drive", or "It can keep you from
> booting your computer ever again", they will be hoaxes in more then
> 99.99% of the time. As long as you are running your computer, it is
> impossible to delete the entire hard drive, as you can not delete files
> you are using. In order to keep you from being able to ever reboot your
> computer, it has to be able to delete or drastically change your BIOS (a
> part of the computer you don't want to get into), which is next to
> impossible. A few viruses can do damage, but when they claim to be
> totally destructive, they are normally just a Hoax. If you go to
> Microsoft.com or symantec.com, you will find out if a virus is real or
> not, and just what kind of threat it really may be. Most viruses are
> actually just a nuisance and will cause no real damage. Everyone
> remembers the worm virus that went around several months ago. It made
> BIG news but actually was not destructive in the sense we all think of.
> It did not damage files, eat computers nor crawl around on the desk etc.
> It just sent volumes upon volumes of e-mails out to a lot of people,
> clogging up systems, slowing them down and causing a lot of work getting
> rid of it. When a system was infected, the virus was everywhere, and if
> you did not get rid of all of it, it would "grow back". I had a virus
> that I got rid of finally 6 months ago. It was in my machine for about
> 3 months or so and damaged a lot of JPEG's (pictures), so many because
> it took me a long time to catch it and then delete it, as it did no real
> damage. I had backups of the pics, so no loss. So no real reason to
> push the panic button when you see a virus warning, just use common
> sense and be careful who you open e-mails from and who you download
> files from. We can all have a happy computing experience. To all those
> individuals who are working so hard to keep the information and stories
> posted, great work and thanks.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jan [mailto:]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 9:54 PM
> To:
> Subject: Fw: Family picture virus / hoax
>
> I found a new site for checking out hoaxes - luckily the family picture
> one is on it so it is not a threat. Thanks for the warning though - it
> might have been a real one.
> Jan
>
> http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
>
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>
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