Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
In the middle ages, travel by those fleeing the plague helped spread it, as those newly infected tried to get away from those already dying. This migration killed millions. Thankfully, nothing like that exists today. Well, not QUITE like it.
However, we face other consequences that, while not quite so dire, are still not without impact. The Code Red virus, which was figured to have been created in China, is estimated to have cost at least 2. 6 Billion (Yeah, with a "B") dollars in damage, and that virus really only attacked web servers and clogged internet bandwidth with requests. It had no effect on 99% of the machines connected to the internet, including yours.
However, the viruses out now and currently being emailed all over are not so innocuous to the average user. Preview it in outlook express, and you've got it. And, as soon as you send an email, you send it to everyone you've sent email to before.
I lucked out. I got 3 yesterday. Ken, the webmaster, got 120 infected emails. Yeah, 120 times, someone sent him an email that would set off his virus protection, 120 times it could have infected his computer through outlook express. I doubt Ken's answering email right now. He doesn't have time. He earns his living using his computer and desperately needs to communicate via email for business purposes. Sorting through these things has got to be the world's biggest pain.
I can't imagine the number of emails that places like support at AOL or even just popular sites that lots of people email, like tv networks, news sites, and so on... They are getting bombarded with potentially infectious email. Even if they have made themselves invulnerable to it, SOMEONE has to be paid to search through hundreds, or thousands of emails that contain no message, just a viral payload.
People were executed in the Middle Ages for travelling and infecting others with a deadly disease. They brought death (or at least it was suspected they did) and were treated accordingly.
There's no reason for any TDR member to spread a virus. Relatively inexpensive anti-viral solutions are out there, the updates are free, and most new computers come with it already either installed, or the disks to install it are included. Yet, it's clear that a lot of you are spreading these things. You would never DREAM of going to visit a nursing home with a virulent version of Hepatitis or meningitis... your visit could kill. You would not call up your local businesses and keep their phones tied up for no reason, would you?
The fallout from W32. Badtrans. B@mm which is one of the latest irritants to spread will eventually cost millions or billions, and ALL of it in lost productivity, as people stop doing something productive, and start spending time dealing with these things.
Presently, this virus is relatively harmless... In that it doesn't disable your computer, burn out it's flash bios, or erase the hard drive. BUT, it has the capability of doing so. It's like the shell of a deadly bomb, dropped without it's works. Whoever created this one left out the nasty things it COULD do. It attacks and infects the very core of your operating system. But it doesn't do the nasty stuff it could. The next one might. Someone might take this one and add the deadly parts to it, and it WOULD.
So, will you be a "good" neighbor, good citizen, and by protecting yourself, protect the rest of us from having to deal with these things? With minor exceptions, all of you are sufficiently well-off to afford it. There's really no excuse. If you can drive a Cummins Powered truck and own a PC, you can make the small investment of either time or money (there are free solutions out there, but they consume your time) to be a good citizen of cyberspace?
I would like to think that one, just one, request would be sufficient. That we are all sufficiently high caliber people that we'll take care of our own little dot in the internet universe and by doing so, be good neighbors and friends to our neighbors and friends. So I'm asking. Will you part of the solution? The solution is to stop the spread of these things.
Here's what you can do:
1. Get anti virus protection - either the constantly running kind, or else use the kind you have to run, and check often when things are going around.
2. Stop using software that is vulnerable. Don't use Outlook or Outlook Express. Find something else you like. Some are free, some are for a small charge.
3. Learn to recognize the means by which these things are spread and take care to avoid contamination - even anti-viral programs are NOT invulnerable, since new threats appear regularly, and counter-measures can only be developed after they are discovered.
4. don't share floppies, download software from unknown places, or otherwise allow unknown stuff to be installed on your machine.
I hope I never have to post anything about this again. I apologize for it's length, but it had to be said.
Thanks all
Mark
However, we face other consequences that, while not quite so dire, are still not without impact. The Code Red virus, which was figured to have been created in China, is estimated to have cost at least 2. 6 Billion (Yeah, with a "B") dollars in damage, and that virus really only attacked web servers and clogged internet bandwidth with requests. It had no effect on 99% of the machines connected to the internet, including yours.
However, the viruses out now and currently being emailed all over are not so innocuous to the average user. Preview it in outlook express, and you've got it. And, as soon as you send an email, you send it to everyone you've sent email to before.
I lucked out. I got 3 yesterday. Ken, the webmaster, got 120 infected emails. Yeah, 120 times, someone sent him an email that would set off his virus protection, 120 times it could have infected his computer through outlook express. I doubt Ken's answering email right now. He doesn't have time. He earns his living using his computer and desperately needs to communicate via email for business purposes. Sorting through these things has got to be the world's biggest pain.
I can't imagine the number of emails that places like support at AOL or even just popular sites that lots of people email, like tv networks, news sites, and so on... They are getting bombarded with potentially infectious email. Even if they have made themselves invulnerable to it, SOMEONE has to be paid to search through hundreds, or thousands of emails that contain no message, just a viral payload.
People were executed in the Middle Ages for travelling and infecting others with a deadly disease. They brought death (or at least it was suspected they did) and were treated accordingly.
There's no reason for any TDR member to spread a virus. Relatively inexpensive anti-viral solutions are out there, the updates are free, and most new computers come with it already either installed, or the disks to install it are included. Yet, it's clear that a lot of you are spreading these things. You would never DREAM of going to visit a nursing home with a virulent version of Hepatitis or meningitis... your visit could kill. You would not call up your local businesses and keep their phones tied up for no reason, would you?
The fallout from W32. Badtrans. B@mm which is one of the latest irritants to spread will eventually cost millions or billions, and ALL of it in lost productivity, as people stop doing something productive, and start spending time dealing with these things.
Presently, this virus is relatively harmless... In that it doesn't disable your computer, burn out it's flash bios, or erase the hard drive. BUT, it has the capability of doing so. It's like the shell of a deadly bomb, dropped without it's works. Whoever created this one left out the nasty things it COULD do. It attacks and infects the very core of your operating system. But it doesn't do the nasty stuff it could. The next one might. Someone might take this one and add the deadly parts to it, and it WOULD.
So, will you be a "good" neighbor, good citizen, and by protecting yourself, protect the rest of us from having to deal with these things? With minor exceptions, all of you are sufficiently well-off to afford it. There's really no excuse. If you can drive a Cummins Powered truck and own a PC, you can make the small investment of either time or money (there are free solutions out there, but they consume your time) to be a good citizen of cyberspace?
I would like to think that one, just one, request would be sufficient. That we are all sufficiently high caliber people that we'll take care of our own little dot in the internet universe and by doing so, be good neighbors and friends to our neighbors and friends. So I'm asking. Will you part of the solution? The solution is to stop the spread of these things.
Here's what you can do:
1. Get anti virus protection - either the constantly running kind, or else use the kind you have to run, and check often when things are going around.
2. Stop using software that is vulnerable. Don't use Outlook or Outlook Express. Find something else you like. Some are free, some are for a small charge.
3. Learn to recognize the means by which these things are spread and take care to avoid contamination - even anti-viral programs are NOT invulnerable, since new threats appear regularly, and counter-measures can only be developed after they are discovered.
4. don't share floppies, download software from unknown places, or otherwise allow unknown stuff to be installed on your machine.
I hope I never have to post anything about this again. I apologize for it's length, but it had to be said.
Thanks all
Mark
) of cutting off email communications between me and a TDR forum moderator who happens to be a close friend. That doesn't go over real well with me. I hate being cut off from my friends by this...
