I got nailed by a new (at least to me) virus that is transmitted via
email.
If you get messages from know users that have attachments, you should be
careful. The bug infects system files and is very hard to remove
completely.
If you get odd error messages that say things like MTX error then you may
already be infected.
I got mine from a known user who had recently sent me some race related
attachments. Then another message appeared, with no text but an attachment
that looked like this:
metallica.mp3.pif My computer then started sending out emails with an
attachment that was like this:
readersdigest.txt.pif If you receive a blank email message with this type
of attachment, DELETE it immeadiately.
--
dave henrie
Free the ICR2 source code!
I would no sooner open a "pif" than I would open an exe, bat or com
attached to email, since these are (or were, anyway) the 4 executable
file types.
~daxe
On Fri, 15 Dec 2000 03:42:51 GMT, "Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]>
wrote:
Quoted text (14 lines)
> I got nailed by a new (at least to me) virus that is transmitted via >email. >If you get messages from know users that have attachments, you should be >careful. The bug infects system files and is very hard to remove >completely. >If you get odd error messages that say things like MTX error then you may >already be infected. > I got mine from a known user who had recently sent me some race related >attachments. Then another message appeared, with no text but an attachment >that looked like this: >metallica.mp3.pif My computer then started sending out emails with an >attachment that was like this: >readersdigest.txt.pif If you receive a blank email message with this type >of attachment, DELETE it immeadiately.Thanks for the warning. I won't open any .exe. .bat, .com or .pif
attachment - it's just too risky. And messages without any text are deeply
suspect in themselves. The real worry will be if someone writes a virus
that can infect otherwise genuine zipfiles - eliminating all zipfiles from
e-mails would make things extremely difficult for a lot of people. I don't
have the knowledge to know how likely that is, but I doubt it's impossible.
On a slight tangent from that, could I make a plea to people not to send
HTML email unless there's a *very* good reason? I, like many people, have
my e-mail prog set to "plain text" permanently. I was astonished to see in
The Guardian's "Online" section not so long ago a piece by an ad executive
type encouraging the wider use of logos, animated GIFs etc in e-mail. The
flood of angry letters the next week may have changed his mind...!
--
David. (GPLRank handicap: -5.92)
The GPL Scrapyard - http://www.hillclimbfan.f2s.com
"After all, a mere thousand yards - such a harmless little knoll, really" -
Raymond Mays on Shelsley Walsh.
Add ".vbs" to that list...8^0...
J. P. Hovercraft
-------------
daxe wrote:
Quoted text (23 lines)
> I would no sooner open a "pif" than I would open an exe, bat or com > attached to email, since these are (or were, anyway) the 4 executable > file types. > > ~daxe > > On Fri, 15 Dec 2000 03:42:51 GMT, "Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > > I got nailed by a new (at least to me) virus that is transmitted via > >email. > >If you get messages from know users that have attachments, you should be > >careful. The bug infects system files and is very hard to remove > >completely. > >If you get odd error messages that say things like MTX error then you may > >already be infected. > > I got mine from a known user who had recently sent me some race related > >attachments. Then another message appeared, with no text but an attachment > >that looked like this: > >metallica.mp3.pif My computer then started sending out emails with an > >attachment that was like this: > >readersdigest.txt.pif If you receive a blank email message with this type > >of attachment, DELETE it immeadiately.The trouble is, Windows 9x, by default, hides the ".pif" file extension,
even when the "show all file extensions" option is enabled (or the "hide
extensions for known file types" is disabled in 98). On my computer, I'm
using Xteq's X-Setup ( http://www.xteq.com/ ) to force Windows to show
the extensions for a number of files that are hidden by default,
including .VBS VisualBasic scripts and .JS JavaScripts. On most people's
systems, however, those extensions are always hidden, which is why these
virus authors name their files "virusfile.txt.vbs" (or some other
innocent extension in the middle)...if Windows doesn't display the
".vbs", then the file looks like a harmless text file. I would suspect
that some email programs like Microsoft Outlook might act like Windows
and not display these file extensions. And I'm sure that Outlook will
helpfully run any PIF, executable, or script that you happen to click on
for you... ;)
If you want a mail program that's safer, I'd suggest Pegasus Mail (
http://www.pmail.com ), a freeware mail program with a lot of excellent
features. It's not vulnerable to the numerous worms that target Outlook
and it's derivatives, and it also handles attachments in a safer
manner...letting you choose to view them internally, save them, save and
edit them, or invoke an external application to view them. I know from
experience that it can't execute VBS scripts from within the
program...you would have to save the file to your hard drive and then
run it to do any damage. It also has only limited HTML support, and no
scripting support, so it can't be attacked by any nasty scripts in HTML
mail. Give it a try! :)
DennyK
daxe wrote:
Quoted text (24 lines)
> > I would no sooner open a "pif" than I would open an exe, bat or com > attached to email, since these are (or were, anyway) the 4 executable > file types. > > ~daxe > > On Fri, 15 Dec 2000 03:42:51 GMT, "Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > > I got nailed by a new (at least to me) virus that is transmitted via > >email. > >If you get messages from know users that have attachments, you should be > >careful. The bug infects system files and is very hard to remove > >completely. > >If you get odd error messages that say things like MTX error then you may > >already be infected. > > I got mine from a known user who had recently sent me some race related > >attachments. Then another message appeared, with no text but an attachment > >that looked like this: > >metallica.mp3.pif My computer then started sending out emails with an > >attachment that was like this: > >readersdigest.txt.pif If you receive a blank email message with this type > >of attachment, DELETE it immeadiately..pifs are executables. Never open them. pifs, bats, exes, coms, vbs', pls, or
any other bloody thing that isn't obviously a text file or graphic file or
similar.
--
-------------------------------------
Morgan Vincent Wooten
GPLRank: +15.49
http://home.earthlink.net/~morganv00/
-------------------------------------
"Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:%qg_5.149087$[email hidden]...
> I got nailed by a new (at least to me) virus that is transmitted via
> email.
> If you get messages from know users that have attachments, you should be
> careful. The bug infects system files and is very hard to remove
> completely.
> If you get odd error messages that say things like MTX error then you may
> already be infected.
> I got mine from a known user who had recently sent me some race related
> attachments. Then another message appeared, with no text but an attachment
> that looked like this:
> metallica.mp3.pif My computer then started sending out emails with an
> attachment that was like this:
> readersdigest.txt.pif If you receive a blank email message with this type
> of attachment, DELETE it immeadiately.
> --
> dave henrie
> Free the ICR2 source code!
>
>
"Morgan V. Wooten" wrote:
>
> .pifs are executables. Never open them. pifs, bats, exes, coms, vbs', pls, or
> any other bloody thing that isn't obviously a text file or graphic file or
> similar.
I do it even simpler, I never open an attachment that I'm not expecting,
if I get one from someone I know, I ask what it is before opening, and
yes, this is from experience....:-)
Beers and cheers
(uncle) Goy
"Team Mirage" http://members.prestige.net/bttw/teammirage/
"The Pits" http://www.theuspits.com/
* Spam is for losers who can't get business any other way *
"Spamkiller" http://www.spamkiller.com
That is what burned me. I had just gotten attachments from him for an
SCGT race he'd run. But he had also sent an email saying he was sorry he
didn't zip the screenshot...so when another email with an attachment arrived
a few minutes later...I just "assumed" it was his second attempt. doh!
so far I've had at least one program corrupted by the mtx virus and I'll
have to delete and re-install it....(my TPTCC 2k){OUCH!}
dave henrie
"Goy Larsen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
>
>
> "Morgan V. Wooten" wrote:
> >
> > .pifs are executables. Never open them. pifs, bats, exes, coms, vbs',pls, or
> > any other bloody thing that isn't obviously a text file or graphic fileor
Quoted text (15 lines)
> > similar. > > I do it even simpler, I never open an attachment that I'm not expecting, > if I get one from someone I know, I ask what it is before opening, and > yes, this is from experience....:-) > > > Beers and cheers > (uncle) Goy > > "Team Mirage" http://members.prestige.net/bttw/teammirage/ > "The Pits" http://www.theuspits.com/ > > * Spam is for losers who can't get business any other way * > "Spamkiller" http://www.spamkiller.com
Dave Henrie wrote:
Sometimes you get burned no matter what you do, short of calling people
and asking them what the attachment is....:-)
Beers and cheers
(uncle) Goy
"Team Mirage" http://members.prestige.net/bttw/teammirage/
"The Pits" http://www.theuspits.com/
* Spam is for losers who can't get business any other way *
"Spamkiller" http://www.spamkiller.com
