[1] From: JONASSAINT JEAN <k15735@er.uqam.ca> (60)
From: Michael Weiser
<BEASLEBC%SNYDELAB.BITNET@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu>
Subject: virus alert!
[The following alert has spread (? like a virus) through the Internet.
When I have received such things before, I have checked them out only to
be told by experts that such a virus, which operates from a
non-executable file, is an impossibility. Would some Humanist who knows
about these things please fill us in? --WM]
IF YOU RECEIVE AN E-MAIL MESSAGE WITH THE SUBJECT LINE
(GOOD TIMES), DO NOT READ THE MESSAGE. It will destroy your hard
drive.
I just received an alert from one of our vendors informing
me about this new virus. The message read as follows:
There is a virus that is spreading through the internet.
Read the message and forward it to the people you know are
using internet.
There is a computer virus that is being sent across the
internet. If you receive an e-mail message with the
"Good Times", do not read the message, delete it
immediately. Please read the messages below. Some
miscreant is sending e-mail under the title "Good Times"
nationwide. If you get anything like this, don't down load
the file. It has a virus that rewrites your hard drive,
obliterating anything on it. Please be careful and forward
this mail to anyone you care about.
Warning!!! Internet Virus
The FCC released a warning last Wednesday concerning a
matter of major importance to any regular user of the
Internet. Apparently, a new computer virus has been
engineered by auser of America Online that is unparalleled
in its destructive capability. Other, more well-known
viruses such as Stoned, Airwolf and Michaelangelo pale in
comparison to the prospects of this newest creation by a
warped mentality. What makes this virus so terrifying, said
the FCC, is the fact that no program needs to be exchanged
for a new computer to be infected. It can be spread through
the existing e-mail systems of the internet. Once a
computer is infected, one of several things can happen. If
the computer contains a hard drive, that will most likely be
destroyed. If the program is not stopped, the computer's
processor will be placed in an nth-complexity infinite
binary loop which can severely damage the processor if left
running that way too long. Unfortunately, most novice
computer users will not realize what is happening until it
is far too late. Luckily, there is one sure means of
detectingd what is now known as the "good times" virus. It
always travels to new computers the same way in a text
e-mail message with the subject line reading simply "Good
Times". Avoiding infection is easy once the file has been
received - not reading it. The act of loading the file
into the mail server's ASCII buffer causes the "Good Times"
mainline program to initialize and execute. The program is
highly intelligent - it will send copies of itself to
everyone whose e-mail address is contained in a received
mail file or a sent mail file, it if can find one. It will
then proceed to trash the computer it is running on. The
bottom line here is - if you receive a file with the subject
line "Good Times", delete it immediately! Do not read it!
Rest assured that whoever's name was on the "From:" line was
surely struck by the virus. Warn your friends and local
system users of this newest threat to the Internet. It
could save them a lot of time and money.