Hello silver-list, Once again, well-meaning people are polluting the list with stuff about virii, trojans, worms, etc. Let's go over this once again.
1) The BEST way to protect yourself against email trojans/worms/virii/VB scripts is to NOT use ANY Microsoft product for your email client. Outlook and Outlook Express have many known vulnerabilities, and these are exploited on a daily basis. GET A REAL EMAIL CLIENT. 2) Microsoft and Intel NEVER, EVER, EVER classify a virus. EVER. All of these "mass emailings" that people spread around that state such things are hoaxes. The sole intention of propagating such a hoax is so that email address grepping software, running on email servers owned/operated by bottom-feeding SPAMMERS, can extract more valid email addresses. The people who start these things are the scourge of the internet, and the vilest scum one can imagine. When you, with good intentions, email these out to all of your friends, you are assisting these pieces of garbage. 3) Antivirus software that automatically scans email for the presence of a "virus" can, and does, give many false alarms. One can actually insert certain text into an all-text email that will set off most of the antivirus programs out there. 4) If one is intent upon using Outlook or Outlook Expres as your email client, a very good way to protect yourself is by downloading a FREE program called ZoneAlarm. It will quarantine most suspect email, and prevent you from accidentally launching a suspicious attachment. It is a software firewall program, and I highly urge ANYONE who has a constant connection to the internet (such as xDSL or a cable modem) to install it. It is utterly amazing how many people have open machines that are constantly connected. Not only can all of the contents on your machine be viewed, but it can be changed as well. Add to this the fact that your machine can be used in a DDoS attack (and your ISP will hold YOU responsible for this in most cases), and you will begin to understand the importance of a software firewall. 5) All posts on sujects like this, INCLUDING THIS ONE, are way off-topic, and really shouldn't become "the thread that never dies"! Actually, they probably shouldn't even be "on list". Just a couple good email clients for Windows are Eudora, and The Bat. http://www.eudora.com http://www.ritlabs.com ZoneAlarm can be obtained at.... http://www.zonelabs.com look around for the FREE version. A GREAT resource for investigating the much-circulated myths is.... http://www.vmyths.com I covers not only hoaxes and myths, but the hysteria that surrounds them as well. This hysteria is multiplied by various news organizations, such as CNN, who see it as a ratings-grabber. One last thing. Some may have questions, which is good. Please understand that I do NOT have the time to answer them. Look around the net. The answers for computer security are there if you look for them. -- Best regards, Solar -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
