I need some advice from a computer wiz..

I received the following from a friend. I have no idea if the idea is sound. So before I go messing with my computer, could you advise me. Thanks for your help in advance.


SPM,...play long and prosper...


Subject: Fwd: Virus Protection

For Address Book


HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!


I learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in it's simplicity. As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer it heads straight for your email address book, and sends itself to everyone in there, thus infecting all your friends and associates. This trick won't keep the virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address

book to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact, that the worm has gotten into your system. Here's what you do: first, open your address book and click on "new contact" just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list of email addresses. In the window where

you would type your friend's first name, type in AAAAAAA. In the window below where it prompts you to enter the new email address, type in WormAlert@somewhere.com . Then complete everything by clicking add, enter, ok, etc. Now, here's what you've done and why it works: The "name" AAAAAAA will be placed at the top of your address book as entry

#1. This will be where the worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends. But when it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA, it will be undeliverable because of the phony email address you entered (WormAlert@somewhere.com). If the first attempt fails (which it will because of the phony address), the worm goes no further and your friends will not be infected. Here's the second great advantage of this method: If an email cannot be delivered, you will be notified of this in your In Box almost immediately. Hence, if you ever get an email spelling you that an email addressed to WormAlert@somewhere.com could not be delivered, you know right away that you have the worm virus in your system. You can then take steps to get rid of it! Pretty slick huh? If everybody you know does this then you needn't ever worry about opening mail from friends. Pass this on to all your friends.


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spm -


bogus. you will get the nice return receipt, so you know that you've unintentionally infected your friends. but sending email is a fire-and-forget operation, so putting in that fake entry won't prevent the worm from simply moving on to the next entry.


there are many ways to protect yourself from this sort of thing, but most are considered too painful (read inconvenient) for the average user. the best such solution is simply "don't use windows." works for me.


back in the real world, another solution is to store your addresses in a plain text file instead of in the address book feature supplied by most email clients. this way, the virus will have nowhere to unleash it's payload. the downside is that you deny yourself an integrated address book feature. that's a tradeoff i would make every time, but i've been told i'm a nutball in that regard.


good luck


the club