Dear Members,

While virus software is the usual recommendation, as Kerry Scannell has wisely suggested, it is only about the third level down of protection against viruses! Unless you updated your software about every hour these days, they are out of date for any new virus hitting the system. With these miserable people now making the internet unsafe for all of us with virus that create new viruses upon release in a new system, anti-virus programs cannot possibly keep up to date fixes and have become about the third step to take in virus/spam/worm protection.

Current recommendations to protect your Windows computers are:

YOU AND YOUR COMPUTER HABITS are the first line of defense.

NEVER open an attachment by double clicking on it. SAVE the attachment on your computer. OPEN THE PROGRAM (not the file) that is supposed to run the attachemnt. Have the PROGRAM OPEN THE FILE. If it opens, it is safe; otherwise, it is probably an infected file and should be deleted. IF NO PROGRAM RECOGNIZES THE ATTACHMENT BE ABSOLUTELY SKEPTICAL AND LEAVE IT ALONE OR DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY. Contact the supposed sender (more on why it is a "supposed" sender below.)

If your computer cannot open the attachment, WRITE A NEW EMAIL TO THE SUPPOSED SENDER to ask if they sent you material. If they did, then you may risk double clicking on the file although I prefer to ask them to put it in the text of a new email. This works well for text and image files but is not good for such applications as spreadsheets and databases. If you get no response or a "no, I did not send you anything", delete the email, the file, everything, immediately. It is a worm/spam/virus email from someone who has harvested your friend's email address (and yours).

NEVER click on a link in an email unless you know what that link is (not who sent it to you, but the site being linked to). Read the link VERY carefully or go to symantec.com to see if that link is a spammer or worse before you click on anything. They have a list of every known one of these things and they get the information up on their site very fast -- often within a few minutes of it hitting someone. Type in your suspicious link (again, unless you know for a fact that a site is "real", every link is suspicious) and it will tell you if it is an infection.

Some people now have a "code word" in their subject lines for emails to and from known correspondents (a4inWord or jR5@b -- something like a password with numbers, caps and symbols is best) so you know the email is from someone you write to a lot. It is so easy to harvest emails. I received a "forwarded" email from which I got the names and emails of 27 people simply by right clicking on the name and looking at the properties. The forward was a fourth generation forward from a friend. I wrote to tell her never to do that to me and how to send on material to other people. Remember, a hacker is delighted to get that information. They use those addresses to send you an email from a "friend" except it is a spammer (annoying and time consuming) or, worse, a virus (destroys data on your hard drive). We can all help keep the internet and email safe.

NEVER forward anything to your friends. EVER. Cut and paste that cute joke list into a new email and send it to your friends with their emails in the "Bcc" field or (better) create a list (create as many as you need for different purposes). Always put group email addresses in the "BCC" field to protect them harvesting. (Remember, it is not "Cc" field but "Bcc" -- the old blind carbon copy system.) Bcc addresses cannot be harvested. If you have to have an address in the "To" field, put your own. If you are too busy to do this, then don't forward it. Protect your internet community first!

And yes, UPDATE your virus software frequently, although if you are infected, this does no good. If you get hit, follow the directions from your software supplier to clean your computer. Check in at symantec.com for the latest information on what viruses, worms, spams, are out there -- which are harmful, which are not, and what to do.

GET A MAC OR USE LINUX! These systems are not hit they way a Windows system is hit. Sad but true -- as most of us now have Windows systems.

A minute spent being careful will save hours of cleanup and email address changes.

Hope this is useful. If only 5% of this information is used, it's a step in the right direction...

Dunn Miller, MLIS
Research Librarian and Web Designer

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
     Yogi Berra


 --- On Wed 08/20, Kerri A. Scannell < [log in to unmask] > wrote:
From: Kerri A. Scannell [mailto: [log in to unmask]]
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:51:35 -0400
Subject: [ARLIS-L] FYI

<html>
ARLIS-L subscribers,<br><br>
As everyone is well aware by now, there are several possible
worms/viruses going around right now.  As a caution, I urge you to
make sure your anti-virus software is up to date, etc.  Today I have
noticed several message on the list and sent to me for review (which I
did not send to the list) that say simply "please attached file for
details."  I have no idea what these messages are about and you
can be assured that if there is a virus or worm being sent to the list,
it has been a failed attempt.  The list does not accept attachments,
so any kind of virus that is distributed by way of attachments will not
make it to this list.<br><br>
Thanks,<br>
Kerri Scannell<br>
ARLIS-L Moderator<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Kerri A. Scannell<br>
Fine Arts Librarian, Technical Services<br>
Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library <br>
University of Kentucky<br>
Lexington, KY 40506-0224<br>
(859) 257-4630<br>
[log in to unmask]<br>
<font color="#800080">"Do not follow where the path may lead.
<br>
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." <br>
--Muriel Strode</font></html>
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<p>

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__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
        http://www.arlisna.org//membership.html
Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
        to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
       http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]