Ok now folks...
A couple of rules of thumb:
1) keep your virus software updated.
2) don't open strange looking attachments or attachements with double file
extentions. Watch for .pif .exe extentions like .vba or .vbs .bat, etc.
unless you have verified with the sender that it was intentionally sent.
3) be suspicious of e-mails recieved from unknown or unfamiliar individuals.
4) check with your ISP to see what they have in place (or options available
to you) to block viruses.
5) your ISP, virus protection software or whatever cannot infallibly protect
you against a brand new virus. BACKUP your files on something off your
computer.... you don't have to backup EVERYTHING...just stuff like personal
files, software updates downloaded, hardware drivers or anything else that
you don't already have on a CD or floppy or whatever. There is lots of
backup software out there that can be very selective. I personally store all
files that I want backed up in one main directory with lots of
subdirectories like personal, excel files, word files, hardware and software
updates down loaded and all that porn that my twisted friends keep sending
me.
There are more ways to protect yourself, but I can't think of them offhand.
Some of the "certain software" mentioned in previous postings are some
Microsoft applications such as Outlook mail. The reason that viruses tend to
be transmitted by these programs is that they are BIG targets for virus
programmers... why would you want to make a virus that only hits Macs (of
which, lets face it folks, there arent that many relatively speaking) when
you could hit many more millions of computers by writing your virus against
a more common program?
In the computer hardware/software community, there are intense rivalries
between different users... Unix based Linux is intensely defended by its
accolites as the most stable and secure Operating System available. Mac
users just love thier Macs and love to say how Windows is a cheap ripoff of
the Mac graphical user interface and that it is much more stable, etc. This
will generally acount for folks sayiong how bad MS products suck.
That may be and these users are probably correct on many of their points. I
am not an advocate for Microsoft products, but I will continue using them
because they are so common and most software is written and developed for it
(and I REALLY REALLY like Excel). There is a good knowledge base out there
as well and updated hardware drivers are much more available. It is however
very vulnerable to attack for the simple reason it is so common and
hackers/programmers are very persistent and imaginitive when it comes to
getting around safeguards.
MV content? Anyone know where I can find a good deal on an M31-c machine gun
mount?
Bob K.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue May 01 2001 - 07:42:41 PDT