Editorial
Another "Stupidity Virus" Strikes
Yet again, mail servers, governments, corporations and individuals across the globe have been struck by another email-borne virus that relies on the stupidity and ignorance of its recipients to survive and spread.

First Melissa, then Bubble-Boy, last week KAK, and today it's the ILOVEYOU strain.

They all work in basically the same way -- by hitching a ride as an attachment on an email message. Once a user clicks on that attachment the viruses install themselves on a victim's PC and commence to send out emails to all the addresses held in that machine's address book.

And -- of course -- all these viruses rely on the fact that the Bill Gates Internet Dictionary doesn't contain any reference to the word "security."

In light of the ease with which malevolent virus writers are able to exploit the massive design flaws intrinsic to Outlook, I'm surprised that some smart lawyer in the USA isn't suing the stuffing out of them for "contributory negligence."

I suspect that if the total cost to consumers of all Microsoft's anti-competitive actions were added up and compared to the total cost of dealing with these endless Outlook-specific viruses then even the USDOJ might realise that that there are bigger threats coming out of Microsoft than just one-sided deals with PC makers.

The wasted bandwidth and productivity lost to these viruses must now reach well into the billions of dollars -- and while it might sound convenient to blame the virus writers, Microsoft must shoulder a huge share of the blame for building email software which is little more than a virtual "kick me" sign.

Of course all sensible people will have virus scanning software installed on their PCs -- but it must be remembered that these virus checkers are "reactive" not "proactive." In the case of new viruses that appear overnight and spread with the speed of "ILOVEYOU", many thousands or even millions of users are going to get hit before the anti-virus software companies have a chance to update their systems so as to recognise the new threat.

So, for the benefit of my readers, let me repeat the basic, yet essential tips to avoiding email-borne viruses:

1. Delete unsolicited attachments without opening them -- don't let your curiosity get the better of you -- if you didn't ask for it then you don't want it -- trust me!

2. Ditch Microsoft Outlook -- this may be a little painful if you've been using it for some time and don't like the prospect of changing systems but you will gain a huge margin of safety by switching to other software such as Pegaus Mail.

3. Don't send documents as MS Word attachments. MS Word and Excel are both primary vectors for many popular viruses and you can't guarantee that the file you've just received from a trusted friend or associate isn't infected with some new and as yet undetected virus. If you *MUST* send documents with fancy formatting and layout then consider using Adobe Acrobat's PDF files instead -- or at least download Microsoft's Word Viewer software and associate that with the .doc filetype.

   The WordViewer is less likely to respond to embedded viruses.

4. Install and keep up to date a good quality virus checker. They can be a pain, the sometimes slow down your system and keeping them up to date can be a chore -- but they can save your arse.

Aardvark Reviews... IHUG's StarNet Trade & Exchange www.listener.co.nz (Updated 26 Mar) MS Image Composer Sony Mavica FD7 Epson 600 iomega ZIP