Sorry guys..

[Avery Todd]

Richard & others,

Dean Thomas posted this on the humor list. Why that one, I don't know, but it
sounds very much like what you're describing.

Avery

Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 23:48:35 -0500
From: Dean Thomas <deanthom@mindspring.com>
Subject: Virus Alert: VBS Freelink
Sender: owner-humor@ptg.org

    This is not a hoax and it is not a forward. Most of you know me well 
enough that
if I tell you I've looked it up personally, you'll believe me. This puppy is
alive and destructive. Modestly to computers and majorly to reputations!! If
your machine is infected, it will quickly send email to your entire address 
book
with a link to a XXX-rated site.
    One discussion list that I am a member of has had several of its members
infected already. I've personally received five today from various members.
Praise God it cannot come through the list itself because of listserv
protection, but several of the listers who have corresponded with me 
personally
and have me in their address books have ended up sending me a post entitled
"CHECK THIS". The post is short, saying something like "Have fun with these
links. Bye." Then a link to a file called "Links.VBS" Honey, it don't stand 
for
Vacation Bible School!
    The key here is to make sure NOT TO OPEN THE LINK!!! Delete the file 
completely
from your inbox and from your trash box, if you have one (like in Navigator or
Communicator).
    If you're unfortunate enough to have already opened it up and 
discovered that
you've been fooled, you have already also emailed your entire group of friends
to let them know about it, too. Sorry.
    No easy fix on this one yet. Norton AntiVirus with recent updates is 
the best
bet so far. They are the only one making any claims.
If you want to check this out further, try this URL:

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/vbs.freelink.html

Discovery date on this was July 99 and the latest info on the URL above is
October 5, 1999.
    Some of my AOL friends seem to have dodged this one. Juno users who are 
EMAIL
ONLY juno users (freebies) should not be affected by this and all who use 
Mac's
are also safe on this one. Everyone else, LOOK OUT!!
--
Blessings!
Dean Thomas
ZionFire
deanthom@mindspring.com


>"John M. Formsma" wrote:
>
> > Hi Richard:
> >
> > Sounds characteristic of a virus that I read about recently.  Don't 
> remember
> > the particulars of how it does its thing, but it will email the virus file
> > to everyone in your address book before trashing your hard drive.  Hope you
> > have backups.
> >
> > John Formsma
>
>Hi John,
>
>The strange thing is, I didnt even open it upon initial reciept. Simply 
>deleted
>it. Later on in the evening I got a complaint from a fellow on my mailing list
>saying I had sent this thing to him. Only then did I go to the trash container
>and open it to see what the heck it was. I now have deleted the whole trash
>container. I have time this evening to run some checks for viruses, and
>fortunatly I have everything of importance backed up, so at worst I will 
>have to
>blank out the hard disk and reload everything. Pain in the butt. In anycase I
>hope others who have recieved this also have taken appropriate precautions.
>
>Richard Brekne
>I.C.P.T.G.  N.P.T.F.
>Bergen, Norway
>
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
> > Of Richard Brekne
> > Sent: Thursday, October 14, 1999 4:39 PM
> > To: PTG
> > Subject: Sorry guys..
> >
> > List
> >
> > some of you probably have recieved a so-called "important message" from
> > my e-mail address. I am not really sure how this got sent out from my
> > address.. I just got it in myself and as I usually do with "important
> > messages" I simply deleted it. I checked it on my trash after getting a
> > couple eposts from someone who also recieved it from my mail address..
> > Somehow this got bounced off my address links and this makes me a bit
> > nervous. How is this possible ??
> >
> > sorry in any case..
> >
> > Richard Brekne
> > I.C.P.T.G.  N.P.T.F.
> > Bergen Norway