[Q] Virus scare

[lemit]

I just got this in an email. Like the person who forwarded it to me, I'll ask, "Is there anything to this?" (I left out some of the cyber-hyperventilation at the end.)

 

HUGE VIRUS COMING! PLEASE READ & FORWARD! Hi All, I checked with Norton

 

Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus! I checked Snopes, and it is for real. Get

 

this E-mail message sent around to all your contacts ASAP. PLEASE FORWARD THIS

 

WARNING AMONG YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS! You should be alert during

 

the next few days. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled

'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK', regardless of who sent it to

 

you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc C

 

drive of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail

 

address on his/her contact list. That is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all

 

your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and

 

open it! If you receive a mail called' POSTCARD,' even if it is sent to you by a friend, do

 

not open it! Shut down your computer immediately. This is the worst virus announced by

 

CNN. It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was

 

discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus

 

simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

 

Thanks.

 

--lemit

[JMJones0424]

Well, the details sound silly to me, so I decided to check Snopes, since this would be the easiest way of verifying. Sure enough, while there is a related virus, this particular email is in fact a hoax, listed word for word in Snopes.

 

snopes.com: 'Hallmark Postcard from a Family Member' virus

[freeztar]

The very message we're discussing happens to be a case in point. Despite the fact that there are real e-card viruses out there, the "POSTCARD" warning above is, in fact, a hoax. It is simply the newest of many variants of a false alert that began circulating several years ago (compare the texts and you'll see what I mean).

 

Therefore, don't depend on this type of alert for protection, and avoid forwarding such messages to others unless you can confirm with some certainty that the threat they describe is real.

 

'Postcard' or 'Hallmark Postcard' Virus Hoax - Urban Legends

 

snopes.com: 'Hallmark Postcard from a Family Member' virus

 

In summary, it is never a good idea to click on a link in an email. It's always better to type the address in your browser yourself. This prevents being sent somewhere you don't want to go.

 

Example:

http://www.hallmark.com

 

This shows up as:

http://www.hallmark.com

 

But when you click on that link, it will take you to a different site from hallmark.com. Don't believe everything you read and disable html in your inbox!

 

Hope that helps. :)

[lemit]

Thanks.

 

--lemit