Microsoft never sends out updates as attachments to e-mail. It is very
likely the attachment to this post contains the MyDoom or some other
recent worm or virus. Hopefully I am wrong, but if I am right you may
greatly regret clicking on the attachment.

"Cwdjrx _" wrote in message
...
Microsoft never sends out updates as attachments to e-mail. It is very
likely the attachment to this post contains the MyDoom or some other
recent worm or virus. Hopefully I am wrong, but if I am right you may
greatly regret clicking on the attachment.

I noticed that a lot of uninvited attachments have an ".scr" extension. What
is that??? Just another reason among many to not open attachments that you
do not trust implicitly.

LarryB

Larry B asks: "I noticed that a lot of uninvited attachments have an
".scr" extension. What is that???".

The extension .scr is for an executable script. Many people know not to
click on the .exe extension unless you have gone to a trusted site to
download a program, so the hackers are using .scr more now. With the
newest worms, they also are sometimes using the .zip extension. This
extension normally is used to compress data to decrease file size for
uploading and downloading, but the hackers have found a way to get their
worm code in the .zip extension. Other extensions they have used to
insert a worm or virus include some sound ones. Beware of double
extensions such as .doc.scr. Sometimes a double extension causes no
problem or causes the link not to work. However in the example given,
many browsers ignore the .doc part and just see .scr . Hackers have used
double extensions in several recent worms.

The post that started this thread has an attachment with a .zip
extension. If it does contain one of the recent worms, the message
likely was posted by someone's infected computer without their knowledge
by the worm. The worm can harvest all of the addresses stored on the
computer, and send out mass e-mails to all of them. It often uses one of
the names it finds stored on the computer rather than the name of the
person who owns the computer. The wrong person may be blamed for sending
the message, and the owner of the infected computer may have no
knowledge that their computer is sending out mass mailings including
copies of the worm in an attachment. Thus you can receive an e-mail from
what seems to be your best friend with a worm containing attachment of
which they are completely unaware. If there is any doubt, always contact
the sender of the e-mail asking if they sent the attachment before you
open it - especially if they are not in the habit of sending
attachments. Of course using a mail service that scans e-mail
attachments for a virus before it will open them is very helpful.

Cwdjrx _ wrote:

they are completely unaware. If there is any doubt,
always contact the sender of the e-mail asking if they
sent the attachment before you open it - especially if
they are not in the habit of sending attachments.

Almost any worm virus now uses fake sender info, IOW:
the worm catches a random address to use as the
target, and another address to usa as the fake sender.
So, answering to an email sent by the worm will likely
end up in posting to someone else's inbox.

Vilco