I'm not an expert but "fell" for two hoaxes in my 3 years on the net.
Oh well...
Juli Kuhl
On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, Carrie Pendleton wrote:
> To All:
>
> Thought you guys might like to know:
>
> >>>>>>> amb3f@virginia..edu
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> This message is extremely important. It is about a
> >>>>>>> very highly intelligent virus that is being spread nationwide called
> >>>>>>> "Good Times". Once you have read this message, please forward to anyone
> >>>>>>> you care about.
> >>>>>>> Thanks.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> SUBJECT: [Very Important !!! ]
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> There is a computer virus that is being sent across the Internet. If
> you
> >>>>>>> receive an email message with the subject line "Good Times", DO NOT
> >>>>>>> read the message, DELETE it immediately. Please read the messages
> >>>>>>> below.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Some miscreant is sending email 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.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> 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 a user of AMERICA ON LINE 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 email 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 detecting what is now known as the "Good Times" virus. It always
> >>>>>>> travels to new computers the same way in a text email message with the
> >>>>>>> subject line reading "Good Times". Avoiding infection is easy once the
> >>>file
> >>>>>>> has
> >>>>>>> been received simply by 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 email address is contained in a receive-mail file or
> >>>>>>> a sent-mail file, if it can find one. It will then proceed to trash
> >>>>>>> the computer it is running on.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The bottom line is: - if you receive a file with the subject line
> >>>>>>> "Good Times", delete it immediately! Do not read it" Rest assured
> that
> >>>>>>> whoever' 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.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Could you pass this along to your global mailing list as well?
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> <2 Subject: New and Dangerous Virus For your information ...
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY FILE NAMED PKZIP300 REGARDLESS OF THE EXTENSION
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> We work closely with the military and received this message from a
> >>>>>>> very reliable source in DC this morning.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> A NEW Trojan Horse Virus has emerged on the internet with the name
> >>>>>>> PKZIP300.ZIP, so named as to give the impression that this file is
> >>>>>>> a new version of the PKZIP software used to "ZIP" (compress) files.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> DO NOT DOWNLOAD this file under any circumstances!!! If you install
> >>>>>>> or expand this file, the virus WILL wipe your hard disk clean and
> >>>>>>> affect modems at 14.4 and higher. This is an extremely destructive
> virus
> >>>>>>> and
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> there is NOT yet a way of cleaning up this one.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> REPEAT: DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY FILE NAMED PKZIP300 REGARDLESS
> >>>>>>> OF THE EXTENSION.
>
>
>