[Groop]Success!

[Mark Evanier]

On Mon, 26 Nov 2001 22:25:33 -0800, "Gary Grossmann"
<grossfam@olywa.net> wrote:

>PS to Mark & other McAfee users:  I am subscribed for two years and when I
>rebooted it had me set a time each day when it checks for updates and stuff,
>so I'm all set, right?

ME: Well, pretty much.  But the thing to remember is that even a virus
checker can only stop viruses it knows something about.  Last year
when my computer got a virus, it was one that none of the virus
tracking companies had heard of.  My computer expert/dealer is a
former employee of Norton/Symantec and he sent them and McAfee the
program that had caused my virus.  An hour or two later, they each
wrote back and said, "We examined this program and it's not a virus."

A few hours later, they'd received thousands of submissions of the
program, they examined it again and concluded that it was not only a
new virus but one that worked in a new way.  It was added instantly to
the data files that you download to update your virus checker...but by
then, hundreds of thousands of computers had been infected.

So you have to be careful even when you have a virus checker.  Don't
open an executable file (an EXE file, a PIF file, an SCR file, etc.)
unless you're certain it's okay, and be suspicious of any file that
comes with a nondescript note like, "Here's something that may
interest you."  

By the way: Although my computer was infected by a virus that spread
itself via Microsoft Outlook, it wasn't spread to anyone else.
Reason?  I don't use Microsoft Outlook for e-mail.  I do e-mail and
newsgroups with a program I think is superior called Agent...and not
only is it better, in my opinion, but it has so few users, compared to
Outlook, that no one would bother to write a virus program that used
it.  (I do use Outlook for my address book and calendar, however.  It
just isn't configured for e-mail.)

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