Bin Liner hanging Virus

[Glen48]

Subject: FW: URGENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE READ!!!!!!!! I'm never sure about these sorts of warnings but it's from a goodsource so thought better to be safe than sorry..... ________________________________ TWO SUBJECT LINES of which to be AWARE. Just verified this with Snoopes and it is REAL. ALSO WENT TO TRUTHOR FICTION, IT'S on their site also.. PLEASE INFORM EVERYONE you know! 1.) Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sentand the moment that you open these emails your computer will crash andyou will not be able to fix it! If you get an e-mail along the lines of 'Osama Bin Laden Captured' or'Osama Hanged', don't open the Attachment!!!! This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe,but mainly in the US and Israel. Be considerate & send this warning to whomever you know. 2.) You should be alert during the next few days: Do not open any message with an attached file called 'Invitation'regardless of who sent it. It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which 'burns' the wholehard disc C of your computer!!!! This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail addressin his/her contact list, that is why you should send this E-mail toall your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive thevirus and open it. If you receive an e-mail called 'invitation', even though sent by afriend. Do not open it!!! This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified byMicrosoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is norepair yet for this kind of virus.. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, whereother vital information is kept. SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!!

 

[trainspotter]

HOAX. http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/o/osama.htm

In June, 2002, a corrupted version of this Osama Bin Laden warning started circulating along with a virus warning that is an old hoax. It claimed that if you opened the attachment to the Osama Bin Laden email you would get a virus that will destroy your hard drive. That is not true. Then the eRumor also talks about an "Invitation" or "Olympic Torch" virus, which does not exist and is a hoax.

 

[Glen48]

Sounds same as QE 1 to 100 will cure the recession

 

[trainspotter]

Never understood why a Virus would wipe your hard drive? No purpose to the Virus unless you are a computer repairman. Virus's are normally Trojans whereby a remote user can log into your computer and obtain passwords etc or Malware whereby your internet gets hijacked to gambling/pr0n/not what you want sites. All internet providers have mail washers as well as Virus Protection so unlikely it could get through firewall let alone your own computers security.

Get an email with "Osama Bin Laden Dead" and you open it and it kills your computer. Great ...... how does the Virus replicate as the host computer is now dead? Or does it get hold of your contacts list, send out the Virus to everyone then kill the computer? Would have to be somre pretty damn good code to do that !

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Subject: FW: URGENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE READ!!!!!!!! I'm never sure about these sorts of warnings but it's from a goodsource so thought better to be safe than sorry..... ________________________________ TWO SUBJECT LINES of which to be AWARE. Just verified this with Snoopes and it is REAL. ALSO WENT TO TRUTHOR FICTION, IT'S on their site also.. PLEASE INFORM EVERYONE you know! 1.) Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sentand the moment that you open these emails your computer will crash andyou will not be able to fix it! If you get an e-mail along the lines of 'Osama Bin Laden Captured' or'Osama Hanged', don't open the Attachment!!!! This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe,but mainly in the US and Israel. Be considerate & send this warning to whomever you know. 2.) You should be alert during the next few days: Do not open any message with an attached file called 'Invitation'regardless of who sent it. It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which 'burns' the wholehard disc C of your computer!!!! This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail addressin his/her contact list, that is why you should send this E-mail toall your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive thevirus and open it. If you receive an e-mail called 'invitation', even though sent by afriend. Do not open it!!! This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified byMicrosoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is norepair yet for this kind of virus.. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, whereother vital information is kept. SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!!

What a kerfuffle.

Change to Linux or Apple mate.

The problem is not the virus, it's the host.... Windows

gg

 

[bellenuit]

What a kerfuffle.

Change to Linux or Apple mate.

The problem is not the virus, it's the host.... Windows

gg

I agree. I don't want to turn this thread into an Apple v Windows war, but just to relay my experience. I changed from Windows to OSX (Apple Mac OS) 2 years ago and have not had one virus problem since..... and I don't have any anti-virus s/w installed.

 

[burglar]

I agree. I don't want to turn this thread into an Apple v Windows war, but just to relay my experience. I changed from Windows to OSX (Apple Mac OS) 2 years ago and have not had one virus problem since..... and I don't have any anti-virus s/w installed.

Recently, a Trojan virus fried my Windows machine (including Firmware!!)
Why should I pay a coupla hundred bucks to repair a 7 year old machine

I bought an Apple Laptop s/h,

Does everything I want!

 

[pixel]

What a kerfuffle.

Change to Linux or Apple mate.

The problem is not the virus, it's the host.... Windows

gg

The problem is not Windows, but the operator:
Why would any sane person click on an attachment or link that comes with an unexpected email, usually from an unidentified sender, with a useless topic!

I also keep receiving countless invitations to "send this to every contact". Yeah, right: That's how spammers get lists of valid email addresses when unsophisticated simpletons click on "Forward" and leave all recipients in clear text on the To: and CC: line.

Regardless what the "warning" claims about verification, it only takes one brief Google or Yahoo Search to find a link to Symantec, Urban Myths, or any of a dozen other sites to unmask the email as a hoax. In years, I haven't found a single such "warning" that was NOT a hoax.

In earlier days I tended to respond to the sender (if it was a well-meaning acquaintance) pointing out the folly. A couple replied with the standard "But it could be true, so I'd rather forward 100 warnings if only one of them helps a friend avoid getting caught." Today, I simply "block sender" before deleting the cr@p.

PS Disclosure: I scan my email by the free AVG anti virus program; it has a small footprint.
Owning a personal domain name, I can easily add email accounts that are dedicated to specific contacts: e.g. accountw@mydomain for Westpac, accountp for Paritrade, etc; then I create a "message rule" that accepts emails for accountw only if they're from Westpac, etc; if they're from any other source, they're "deleted from server" and not even downloaded.
Result: For years now, AVG hasn't flagged even a single virus, Trojan, or other malicious junk.