Snopes has a decent little article about this at http://www.snopes2.com/inboxer/virus/quickfix.htm
Kevin --- Aaron Laudi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Does this make sense to you guys? One of my users > sent it to me. It sounds > good in theory. > > > ------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: Good Idea > > I received a computer trick today that's really > ingenious in its simplicity. > As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your > computer it heads > straight for your email address book and sends > itself to everyone in there, > thus infecting all your friends and associates. This > trick won't keep the > virus from getting into your computer, but it will > stop it from using your > address book to spread further, and it will alert > you to the fact that the > worm has gotten into your system. > > Here's what you do: first, open your address book > and click on "new contact" > just as you would do if you were adding a new friend > to your list of email > addresses. In the window where you would type your > friend's first name, type > in !000 (that's an exclamation mark followed by 3 > zeros). In the window > below where it prompts you to enter the new email > address, type in > WormAlert. Then complete everything by clicking add, > enter, ok, etc. > > Now, here's what you've done and why it works: the > "name" !000 will be > placed at the top of your address book as entry #1. > This will be where the > worm will start in an effort to send itself to all > your friends. But when it > tries to send itself to !000, it will be > undeliverable because of the phony > email address you entered (WormAlert). If the first > attempt fails (which it > will because of the phony address), the worm goes no > further and your > friends will not be infected. > > Here's the second great advantage of this method: if > an email cannot be > delivered, you will be notified of this in your > InBox almost immediately. > Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an > email addressed to > WormAlert could not be delivered, you know right > away that you have the worm > virus in your system. You can then take steps to get > rid of it! > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------- > > > aaron laudi > webcast technician -- stylus strategic communication > e [EMAIL PROTECTED] > t 514-288-8613 > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com
