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off topic - is this a real virus?? RRS feed

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    http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp

    Hi All, I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus!

    I checked Snopes (URL aboveSmile, and it is for real!!

    Get this E-mail message sent around to your contacts ASAP.

    PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!

    You should be alert during the next few days. Do no t open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD,' regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc C of your computer.

    This virus will be re ceived from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

    If you receive a mail called' POSTCARD,' even though sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately.< /STRON G>

    This is the worst virus announced by CNN. It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.

    This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

    Friday, May 30, 2008 7:39 PM

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    This forum is for OneCare antivirus questions/issues so this is a bit off-topic.

     

    The message you pasted is a well-known hoax, as noted in the Snopes article. There is not a new, urgrent threat spreading that antivirus vendors are "gearing up for" and that was recently reported by CNN and/or Microsoft as the "most destructive virus ever" and that destroys your hard disk and so forth. The hoax assumes that you'll glance at the Snopes article and see that it is "confirmed" and forward the message on without reading the article, annoying your family and friends.

     

    However, there are indeed plenty of malware threats that pretend to be electronic greeting cards in order to trick users into running a malicious program or visiting a malicious Web site (also as noted in the Snopes article).

     

    As always, run a well-respected antimalware program and keep it up-to-date. Use caution when opening unexpected attachments, even if they're from people you know (a best practice is to contact the sender and get confirmation that they meant to send you the attachment before opening it).

     

    Randy

    Friday, May 30, 2008 8:17 PM