1. Most email worms use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express to spread. Netscape users rarely have problems. If you need to use Outlook, download and install the latest Outlook security patch from Microsoft. In general, keep your operating system and applications up-to-date and apply the latest patches when they become available. Be sure to get the updates directly from the vendor.
2. When possible, avoid e-mail attachments both when sending and receiving e-mail.
3. Configure Windows to always show file extensions. In Windows 2000, this is done through Explorer via the Tools menu: Tools/Folder Options/View - and uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types". This makes it more difficult to for a harmful file (such as an EXE or VBS) to masquerade as a harmless file (such as TXT or JPG).
4. Never open e-mail attachments with the file extensions VBS, SHS or PIF. These extensions are almost never used in normal attachments but they are frequently used by viruses and worms.
5. Never open attachments with double file extensions such as NAME.BMP.EXE or NAME.TXT.VBS
6. Do not share your folders with other users unless necessary. If you do, make sure you do not share your full drive or your Windows directory.
7. Disconnect your network or modem cable when you're not using your computer - or just power it down.
8. If you feel that an e-mail you get from a friend is somehow strange - if it is in a foreign language or if it just says odd things, double-check with the sender before opening any attachments.
9. When you receive e-mail advertisements or other unsolicited e-mail, do not open attachments in them or follow web links quoted in them.
10. Avoid attachments with sexual filenames. E-mail worms often use attachments with names like PORNO.EXE or PAMELA_NUDE.VBS to lure users into executing them.
11. Do not trust the icons of attachment file. Worms often send executable files which have an icon resembling icons of picture, text or archive files - to fool the user.
12. Never accept attachments from strangers in online chat systems such as IRC, ICQ or AOL Instant Messenger.
13. Avoid downloading files from public newsgroups (Usenet news). These are often used by virus writers to distribute their new viruses.

Dear all,

The message below is FAKE! 
Nearly ALL internet warnings are fake. So don't believe ANY warnings you get, even from friends!

When you get a warning message PLEASE:

(1) VERIFY

Check the message. Chances are good it is FAKE. Please use the VIRUS & HOAX ALERT website: www.kahl.net/hoax

(2) REPLY

Tell the sender and all recipients that the message is FAKE. Tell them about the VIRUS & HOAX ALERT website.

(3) DELETE

Just delete the message. DO NOT send it to anyone.

Thanks!

For free monthly Virus & Hoax Updates you can visit www.kahl.net to subscribe to KC News.

Mars WAS spectacular... back in 2003!

Did you get an email about Mars lately? Did it read something like this?

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the
naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share this with your children and grandchildren.

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN.

Well at least that last line is absolutely true. That is because this event happened back in August 2003! But since people like to blindly forward emails you can rest assured that every year around August this letter will be circulated!

To learn more about Mars and other heavenly bodies visit KC AstroNews!

This legend is a wild combinations of a bunch of internet fairy tales. Can you recognize any?

There is this guy whose neighbor, a young man, was home recovering from having been served a rat in his bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. So anyway, one day he went to sleep and when he awoke he was in his bathtub and it was full of ice and he was sore all over. When he got out the tub he realized that HIS KIDNEYS HAD BEEN STOLEN and he saw a note on his mirror that said "Call 911!" but he was afraid to use his phone because it was connected to his computer, and there was a virus on his computer that would destroy his hard drive if he opened an email entitled "Join the crew!"

He knew it wasn't a hoax because he himself was a computer programmer who was working on software to save us from armageddon.

His program will prevent a global disaster in which all the computers get together and distribute the $600 Nieman-Marcus cookie recipe under the leadership of Bill Gates (It's true--I read it all last week in a mass email from BILL GATES HIMSELF, who was also promising me a free Disneyworld Vacation and $5,000 if I would forward the email to everyone I know).

The poor man then tried to call 911 from a pay phone to report his Missing kidneys, but reaching into the coin-return slot he got jabbed with an HIV-infected needle around which was wrapped a note that said "Welcome to the world of AIDS."

Luckily he was only a few blocks from the hospital--the one, actually where that little boy who is dying of cancer is, the one whose last wish is for everyone in the world to send him an email and the American Cancer Society has agreed to pay him a nickel for every email he receives.

I sent him two emails and one of them was a bunch of X's and O's in the shape of an angel - if you get it and forward it to twenty people you will have good luck but ten people only will give you OK luck and if you send it to less than ten people you will have bad luck FOR SEVEN YEARS!)

So anyway the poor guy tried to drive himself to the hospital, but on the way he noticed another car driving along without its lights on. To be helpful, he flashed his lights and was promptly shot as part of a gang initiation.

And its a little-known fact that the Y1K problem caused the Dark Ages.