Well folks, I hate to even bring it up, but seems it's getting bad lately. I'm talking about the news of some wide-spread viri going around. And they're apparently here, on this list, too:
How many of you have been receiving lots of spam in the past 72 hours with the subject: "Details"; "My Details"; "Your Details"; "Thanks!", "Thank You!"; "About your request"; "That movie"; and "Wicked screensaver"? I've been deluged with multiple copies of each of the above, and each has a .pif attachment (that's a PROGRAM...an unknown program...more than likely a DANGEROUS program). Here's hoping none of you opened the attachment. So far, I've been able to catch and eliminate all of them...but this is obviously upsetting enough people that I notice today that 2-3 people are attempting to unsubscribe from the VFR list. They sent the notice to the wrong addy, but it makes one wonder how many folks who know how to unsubscribe properly are doing so. Even more disturbing: in the last 48 hours I've rec'd 3 "returned mail" notices from servers I don't know stating that they've rejected a message "I sent" because it contained a suspicious .pif attachment. These are messages to people I don't know, THAT I NEVER SENT, but I'm listed as the sender. Obviously, someone mined my e-mail address from somewhere on the internet (maybe off of a previous legitimate message on somebody else's' box that I really did send?). For the record: I'm certainly no computer guru, but I've been pretty active on the web since 1990 and I try hard to stay current on computer security issues. I've made sure all unnecessary ports are closed. I run a highly regarded, modern firewall. I update the virus definitions on my anti-virus program religiously (once a week normally...but I updated EVERY DAY THIS WEEK!). I've also run a full virus scan every day this week. Everything has come up clean. So I don't think I'm part of the problem. Someone on the list may be. And may not know it. Frankly, I don't know what else to do about it except to continue to watch those incoming e-mails like a hawk. Anybody else got any ideas? Anybody else experiencing the deluge of peculiar e-mails with .pif attachments? Best regards, Fred One of the great discoveries Good-bye! shaving brush Old men look younger Young men look handsomer Very fine for the skin --Burma-Shave-
