Susan & Avin Payne wrote:
> I'm in the dark also, infected with what and which message, I copied all the
> one's pertaining to the Andrea file.  HELP!
__________________

Jane was one of many unlucky people who opened the Happy99.exe worm when she
received it as an email file attachment.  It infected her computer.  The worm
uses the infected person's email program to automatically reproduce itself by
sending out copies to everyone that person emails.

I recently posted a detailed explanation of the Happy99 worm, what it does, how
to remove it, and where you can go on the web for more information.  That more
detailed message about the worm can be found in the Forum email archives.  See
http://scroots.org/ for the email archives.

I'm not aware of anyone having harassed Jane for sending them the worm.  If
anyone was rude to her, they should apologize.  She was not the only person who
was infected and who sent copies of the Happy99 worm to me, others, and to the
Forum recently.  And I'm sure she didn't do it knowingly.  Thankfully, our
filter system rejected all messages with the worm which were addressed to the
Forum.  So the worm was NOT distributed via the Forum.

People sometimes make mistakes and things like this will happen.  It isn't an
innocent sender's fault if someone gets an infected file in an email
attachment.  It is the receiving person's responsibility to exercise due care
when accepting and opening file attachments.  

I've said many times before DO NOT run an executable file received as an email
attachment unless you are sure it is safe.  If there is any doubt, run an
updated virus scanner to check the file before running it.  And, why even take a
chance running executable files that you really don't need?  In my opinion,
running things like cutesy screen displays or other stuff that people pass
around for fun, especially around the holidays, isn't worth the risk.  I just
delete them without bothering to test them.  They can't hurt you if you don't
run them.

Unsolicited, unexplained attachments are unacceptable!  When in doubt, delete.

Steve Coker
SCRoots Forum Manager http://scroots.org/
DuBose Forum Manager http://dubose.org/
Coker Forum Manager http://coker.org/


For more information see the following sites.

http://scroots.org/faq.html.
http://www.mcafee.com/
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/happy99.worm.html
http://www.earthlink.net/daily/tuesday/macroviruses
http://www.cyberramp.net/hoax.htm


"... you CAN get a virus by reading an attachment in an email message, such as
an MS Word or Excel document, which is infected by a macro virus. You can also
get a virus by running an executable program (such as *.exe , *.com or *.bat)
someone e-mails you as an attachment." -- SOURCE:
http://www.cyberramp.net/hoax.htm

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