new email virus

[Jim Mason]

Well, it appears that someone has figured how to infect your computer via email without
you opening any attachments.  If you are running Outlook Express from version 4 or 5 of
Internet Explorer, you need to visit the following Microsoft site and get the patch to fix
the vulnerability.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/Bulletins/ms99-032.asp
Scroll on down the page to "Patch Availability".  It has a link under "Windows 95 and 98"
that installs the patch directly.

Mac, Linux and Unix users are not affected by this one.

A description of this varmint is on the following web page:
http://www.mcafee.com/viruses/bubbleboy/

Norton thoroughly discusses it at:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/vbs.bubbleboy.html

Get the patch installed immediately, because apparently this one will do its dirty work
even if you are looking at the message in the preview pane of Outlook Express without
formally "opening" it!  So, if you get an email from ANYONE that has "BubbleBoy is back"
in the subject line, DO NOT EVEN PREVIEW IT, DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY.   You should also
notify the person whose computer sent you the email that they are infected.

Bubbleboy is pretty innocuous, acting only once and then even telling you how to delete
it, but the security hole it uses could probably be used by someone else to cause serious
harm.

Jeez Louise!!  Why do people do this stuff?

Jim Mason, Naturalist
jmason at ink.org
(316) 683-5499 x103
Great Plains Nature Center
6232 E. 29th St. N.
Wichita, KS 67220-2200
http://www.gpnc.org


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