On Fri, 30 May 2003 09:57:04 +0930, Greg Mayman wrote: > On Tue, 27 May 2003 03:58:20 -0500, Samuel W. Heywood wrote:
>> I don't send any infected messages to anyone. > Of course you don't. But if someone was sending infected messages with > your name in the FROM: field, what are your friends going to think when > they receive these messages? I would suppose that some of my friends and even some people I don't know and whom I have never even heard of might have already received some infected messages with my name in the "From:" field. So far I haven't been advised by anyone of his having received such messages. People who are savvy to the fact that many viruses automatically forge the "From:" field probably would not inform me of the infected messages because they know that this information would not be helpful to me. People who are not savvy to the behavior of viruses will probably immediately think that my machine is infected. > They are going to THINK you sent them, whether you did or not! Of course. > I have received some >> messages from people I don't even know and who call me all kinds of >> names for sending them messages that I never sent to them. Some of > That is exactly my point! How are they going to know whether you sent > them or someone else has faked your name in the From: field? They can investigate the matter and look into it further if they know how. If they don't know how they can get someone to help them. >> them even say that they have reported me to my ISP. It is an >> annoyance for me to receive emails accusing me of things I don't do. >> I don't respond to the complaints. I just delete them and forget them. > You don't bother to reassure your friends that you didn't send them > these messages? The persons who sent me these complaints are my enemies. They might even be spammers for all I know. I suppose it might be a good spammer trick to send a screwball and ignorant complaint to someone in hopes of tempting the recipient to send an angry reply. If the recipient replies, the spammer benefits by confirming the validity of the email address to which he sent the original message. >> It is probably also an annoyance for my ISP to receive complaints about >> me for things that I never did. I am sure that my ISP doesn't take >> the complaints seriously because I have never heard from my ISP about >> any of the complaints these jerks are filing against me. > That's fine so far. Maybe the ISP has a threshold number of complaints > before (s)he acts. >> It doesn't take any expertise to know that you should delete any and >> all attachments containing executable code and sent from an untrusted > But people still allow those attachments to be opened automatically. These people just need a little bit of help from someone to show them how to set up their Window$ applications so that they won't behave in such a bizarre manner as they are designed to behave. You don't have to become an expert just to learn how to do that. > source. It doesn't take any expertise to delete a virus unless your >> machine gets infected. It doesn't take any expertise to prevent your >> machine from getting infected unless you are running Window$. > And why do you think virtually ALL viruses are designed to attack the > Windows O/S these days? Because the Window$ OS is the most vulnerable and susceptible OS and because it is the biggest and most lucrative virus target out there. > People >> who lack the expertise to run Window$ properly ought to run a safe >> alternative and easy to use operating system instead. > Like DOS? You're joking, aren't you? No, I am not joking. Like DOS, or like Linux. DOS is more simple than Linux, but not as powerful. Linux is more simple than Window$ and it is more powerful. Advanced versions of Linux and other Unixish operating systems might be more difficult to install and set up than Window$. > Windows was designed specifically for people who couldn't handle more > complex operating systems. > Go tell THEM they are too stupid to be allowed to use it. I have told them. They won't listen because the truth hurts. Sam Heywood -- This mail was written by user of The Arachne Browser: http://browser.arachne.cz/
