Check your virus updates for definitions to this newly discovered virus. Apparently, it's a variant of the old Melissa worm. Symantec does have a definition.

-- Anon Poster (foo@bar.com), October 18, 1999

Answers

Thanks.

Sent in an e-mail...

Subject: FW: Virus warning
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 11:08:53 -0500

Friends:

Three new variants of the Melissa virus that struck last March were detected in the U.S. late last week. They are quite destructive, but at the same time fairly easy to avoid.

If you receive any email with a Microsoft Word document attached, take a moment to check the subject and the message before attempting to open the attachment.

If the subject is MY PICTURES or PICTURES (possibly followed by your name), and/or the message is WHAT'S UP?, delete the message immediately.

Under no circumstances should you attempt to open the attachment. These viruses flood Microsoft Exchange mail systems (such as ours) and delete essential files from personal computers and network servers.

In the March attach of Melissa, one person at [snip] unwittingly let the virus loose. His machine crashed, scores of virus-carrying email messages were automatically sent, and approximately 20,000 files on company servers and his machine were deleted. It took almost a month put all the pieces back together.

As always, the general rules of email will protect you and your co- workers. Never open an attachment that ends with .EXE. Call [snip names] if you are even the slightest bit unsure if an attachment - particularly one ending with .DOC - is safe. Even deadline pressure is NOT a good reason to risk bringing everything crashing down around you.

[snip]

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), October 18, 1999.

Anyone, or any organization that uses Microsucks products more than the absolute minimum is a FOOL, or run by FOOLS.

There are alternatives to Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, Outlook, Exchange, etc.

-- A (A@AisA.com), October 18, 1999.