Hans-Juergen Steinmetz wrote: > There is a new virus to watch for. This virus, called STAGES, comes > attached to your email as a text file, much as this email does. When > opened, the virus infects your email address book and distributes it in > mass emailings, working much like the MELISSA virus. > > The attachment is what's called a "scrap file", with a .SHS extension. > The problem is that Windows hides that extension, so that it looks like > a .TXT file. > Regular .TXT files do not pose a threat, and deleting them would cause > problems.
Another one you must watch out for is the .PIF files. While on an IRC network one day, someone send me a rather small file of about 600 bytes. Windows showed it as "movie.avi". The size made me suspicious, so I looked at the properties of the file. It's actual name was "movie.avi.pif". Being curious and knowing what a .PIF file was (similar in function to a .BAT file for Windows 3.x but 95/98 still supports the format. Does NT?) I opened it up in MS-DOS's text editor. It was basically a type of virus that would destroy most of the windows root directory and then re-configure mIRC (the IRC chat program I was using) to proliferate this virus to other users joining any channel you are currently chatting in. Basic safety for e-mail and IRC viruses? Do not open any attachments directly from your e-mail program, especially from people you don't know. Know your extensions, I've since changed my windows Explorer to NOT hide file extensions for registered file types. That way I can see each and every extension. Even the double ones like avi.pif. I've also followed the recommendations on the above link given by Hans. Put incoming files from any application in a directory separate from everything else. Just be cautious out there. The net represents the totality of human experience. It's not always pleasant. Shawn ====================================================================== To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================================
