Re: Computer Viruses

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

tsuh yang said, in part:


> i
> have also received viruses from addresses disguised as
> coming from tom barr and others in the list.  this is
> obviously not accidental, someone is out there
> maliciously sending viruses using the addresses of people
> in this list.
> 

Some of these programs, which is what viruses are, raid
mailing lists when they infect a computer and use the
listings as "sender" names when it sallies forth to infect
other systems.  Some of these programs keep going on their
own, mechanically, persistently, annoyingly. Like
graffitti, spit and chewing gum on the sidewalk, and other
thoughtless or malicious acts, these buggers aren't going
to go away -- they're a part of life when computer systems
are connected to each other.

Many of these don't do any damage beyond taking up time and
intruding -- they're just ugly benign intrusions.  Some
will ruin your bits and bytes.  Luckily, it's pretty easy
to avoid damage and to keep things at bay -- remove or
cover graffiti as soon as it shows up (this works much
better and more often than you might think); watch where
you step; get decent firewall and antivirus program(s) 
(there are even free ones that are decent).

The amount of time it takes everyone combined to skip over
a stripped message in a list of APD posts is probably less
than the itme it would take to manually delete them.  so
the net welfare to folks might be less if they are removed
rather than merely stripped.

Scott H., who hasn't ruined a good pair of shoes in a long time.

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