On Wed, 05 Sep 2001 03:19:13 -0700, Gregory J. Feig wrote:
> The message purportedly replied to was sent sometime last winter-spring,
> between January and May of this year, as far as I can recall...
> Obviously, someone has clipped out of our archives and is now trying
> to infect us....
> Well....lotsa luck, is all I can say...but, we need to be aware that
> people are doing this......
No, this is not what is happening. Oscar Diaz's machine is infected
with the Badtrans virus. The virus is clipping out some lines from
Oscar's unread mail folders and then sending them to someone as though
it were a reply sent intentionally by him and adding the text "take a
look at the attachment". The attachment of course is another copy of
the virus. Oscar doesn't even know his computer is doing this. He
doesn't know what his computer is doing because he is using Windows.
Windows is a multi-tasking OS which is capable of running all kinds of
nefarious programs in the background without the user being aware.
Virus writers have become very skilled at exploiting this security
defect in Windows. Oscar uses MicroSoft Outlook Express. This
program is so defective that it can send thousands of embarassing
emails to everyone on your mailing list without your even being aware
that this is going on. It can also pick out email addresses found in
messages in your folders and it can send the devious emails to those
addresses too. I wish all the netizens would get together and sue
MicroSoft for gadzillions of billions in a class action suit based on
the product safety laws. Infected MicroSoft products are a world-wide
plague that could easily be eradicated simply by forcing MicroSoft
into bankrupcy and prohibiting the further use of any of MicroSoft's
products on any computer used for accessing the internet. It is
against the law to install defective and dangerous equipment in your
car if you are going to drive it on a public hiway. If you are caught
driving on a public hiway while having defective equipment in your car
you can be cited and convicted for a violation of law, even if you are
unaware of the problem with your car. Your ignorance is not an
acceptable excuse in court. Similarly it ought to be against the law
to install defective and dangerous software in your computer if you are
going to use it go cruising on the public information hiway known as
the internet.
Regards,
Sam Heywood
-- This mail was written by user of The Arachne Browser - http://arachne.cz/
