Virus Question, Could Someone Help?

[Alexandra Wayne]

Hey y'all,
I recently got an email called "Re: Miss You" listing two people as the senders...I didn't know who they were, but since it was at my school email, and I often get important things there from people I don't know, I opened it. It took me to a website that didn't exist...so basically nothing happened at all. It was a 71 K file, so pretty big, but it did nothing, so...
Anyway, I ran my virus check, updated it and everything, and it said that everything was fine. I also checked up on it on the Internet, and there is nothing about it anywhere, except a person who seems to have gotten the same email and says it wasn't a virus.
I am extremely paranoid, so could someone tell me what else I can do about this?
Thanks much,
Alex

[ToonamiFanatic]

I dont open any email unless I know who sent it
and I dont ever download any attachments no mstter who they are from . but not to scare you I looked on CNN's technology webpage and there is a virus going around but I forgot the name
but you can go there and read up on it at cnn.com/technolog i think

[Sandro]

If you're really worried about this (and with good reason too), just keep your anti-virus software up to date. In the future, don't open any mail from anyone you don't know because you never know. And, NEVER open any attachments from said unknown people.

A good rule of thumb is to have at least two e-mail accounts: one for personal use to give to your friends, family, etc. and the other one that is to be used for anything else such as E-newsletters or whatever. Plus there's a clever little safeguard to keep the people in your address book safe. It involves creating a new entry with the name ! and making his E-mail address fake or something to that extent. I'll see if I can find the specifics to that.

If you want to look up any virus alerts, I'm sure you can go to any decent search engine and look up virus alerts and find something.

I gotta warn you: Viruses have become a lot smarter. Some viruses attack only on certain days and lie dormant until otherwise. If your BIOS is Flash, a virus can invade that (not good). I've even heard of a virus that blows out your monitor! It's no longer the typical format your hard drive and spread through your address book type attacks. Basically, what looks like nothing could be something. I'm not trying to scare you but it's the truth.

[Alexandra Wayne]

Hey again,
Thanks for the info, both of you....I didn't open an attachment, so at least I have that going for me. In addition, I looked at the CNN website and checked out the new virus...then I made sure to update my AntiVirus software and scan again, and nothing came up, so I know it isn't that particular virus...I even checked the full list to make sure I was protecting against that particular one.
And I have looked up virus alerts, and nothing remotely similar to the email I received has shown up...so I figure it's a fluke or advertisement or something.
Thanks for the help...if anyone has any more tips or knows what email I'm talking about, please reply.
Alex

[TimTwoFace]

Hey Alexandra!

I've gotten similar e-mails to that in the past - far too many for my liking. I never open any e-mail that has an attachment (especially an EXE file!), even if I know it came from someone I trust. I'm that paranoid. Just delete it. I get 200+ spam e-mails a day and I just delete them all. Better safe than sorry.

Just make sure you don't delete my e-mails to you. Those take quite a while to write. :p

-Tim

[Fame]

Originally posted by Sandro885


I've even heard of a virus that blows out your monitor!

How is that possible ?

[jeffrey 228]

Ever thought of the case of having a display bios being over written?

And I also have some advice about the so called viruses that try to attack our computers, the main reason, Spam mail, Spam mail from one resource probbly every other day may have a virus code or attachment wich could contain those things to eaither destory someones computer of break a security patch wich could lead for hackers to delete all of your files for not going into spam mail and stuff, and that is what I have been fighting for the last 3 months now.

Thank you.

[Sandro]

How is that possible ?

I don't know but I've attended an open conference for virus protection and the guy said that such a thing is possible. That's really scary considering I just bought a new black 19" flat screen monitor.

[Albright]

Wanna never worry about viruses for the rest of your computer's life? Buy a Mac (http://www.apple.com/switch). Problem solved.

[Piccolo]

Hey Everyone, one option you may have is to set up your anti-virus software to scan all of your incoming messages when they are received. (If you are using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express) Always be very careful of any e-mail attachment from someone you don't know.

If you are getting too much junk or spam mail, there are ways to filter some of those messages straight to the delete file. If you would like specifics, please feel free to send me a Personal Message.

Oh, and don't believe the hype about Macs, ANY operating system is susceptible to viruses.

[Albright]

True; I'm not saying Macs are immune to viruses. I'm just saying that compared to the Windows world, there's so few of them you don't really need to worry about it. In fact, I don't think there's one for Mac OS X at all...

[czyznyck99]

If you don't know EXACTLY where it came from, delete it. I am actually going to shut down my e-mail accounts pretty soon.

I think BugBear and Klez are still running around...

Later.

[jeffrey 228]

Albright, if you buy a mac, you don't get much on it except for Edcuational stuff.