<quote who="Annie Young"> > I've had this damn virus for over a week myself and it is driving me > crazy... I was going to call VISI and ask them what to do - so glad this > came and I see it is not just me... > what are we to do,
Though this isn't Minneapolis specific, I'll comment on it since many of us are facing this issue. It's not just SoBig virus, but other viruses and spams out there. There are a few actions that can help you block or filter the viruses and/or spams. The best fix is overhauling SMTP protocol. But that's beyond the scope of this email. For now, one way to block them is at the ISP level. Some ISP's have anti-virus software to scan each and every email that comes through and attempt to filter them. Somtimes if you have a unix shell account, you can also determine how your mail is filtered using procmail, maildrop, and a variety of other unix tools. That in itself is beyond most normal home users. You'd have to call your ISP and ask them how and if, they filter spam/viruses. Ask them if they have an easy to use interface to allow you to filter your email BEFORE it gets to your inbox on THEIR SERVER. Most users settle with using antivirus and some sort of firewall on their computer at home. There are some freely available software to do just this. Feel free to check out download.com and find some with good user ratings. Like another list member mentioned, if you have a broadband connection, setup a firewall to block all ports and only allow those that you need to your computer. That may be beyond what you want to know about computers, but a little googling (google.com) and some self education will help you protect yourself. This isn't a step-by-step guide to protecting yourself from viruses or spam. Viruses and spam changes on a day to day basis, so the best protection is learning how to protect yourself. Also, I don't think it has happen to this list yet, but I've seen this happen to other lists with thousands of users. Spammers or virus writers would harvest email addresses from mailing lists. Then they not only send spams/viruses to those people on those lists, but also use their email address and name in the From: field. Then if the virus infects that persons computer, it also get other addresses from their address books and send out to those and pretend to be those people as well. The exponential rate of growth is scary. If you need further information, email me privately. Thomas T. Thai // Whittier TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
