Subject: Fwd: A new internet virus!!

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1996 11:57:56 -0500

This could be important, deal with it accordingly
---------------------
Forwarded message:
From:	[email-masked] (Jason & Julie Watkins)
To:	[email-masked] (Kelly Barthlow)
CC:	[email-masked] (The Caplingers), [email-masked] (The Rotz
Family), [email-masked] (Steve Harrison), [email-masked] (Emily Harrison),
[email-masked] (Kerry Kilburn), [email-masked] (Dennis
Loudermilk), [email-masked] (Tracy Marafiote),
[email-masked] (Tom K. Pauley), [email-masked] (PH),
[email-masked] (WV Watkins), [email-masked] (CT Watkins), [email-masked]
(Sarah Watkins)
Date: 96-02-21 20:31:23 EST

Hey all you people out there, I've got a warning for you.

A "telemail" came across my desk today talking of a new virus that is finding
its way around the internet through email.  I thought I would pass it along
since we are having some problems at work now with viruses, so it is a
concern
close to my heart at the moment.  It boils down to:  if anything is emailed
to
you under the subject name of "Good Times," DELETE IT!!  If you open the
file,
it is too late.  The following are excerpts from the "telemail:"

"If you receive an email message with the subject line 'Good Times,' DO NOT
read
the message, delete it immediately."

"It has a virus that rewrites your hard drive, obliterating anything on it.
Please be careful and forward this mail to anyone you care about."  (I know
you
all are teary-eyed after reading that last line line - jjw's note)

"The FCC released a warning last Wednesday (Feb. 14) concerning a matter of
major imporatnace to any regular user of the internet.  Apparently a new
computer virus has been engineered by a user of America Online that is
uparalleled in its destructive capability.  Other more well-known viruses
such
as 'Stoned,' 'Airwolf' and 'Michaelangelo' pale in comparison to the
prospects
of this newest creation by a warped mentality.  What makes this virus so
terrifying, said the FCC, is the fact that no program needs to be exchanged
for
a new computer to be infected.  It can be spread through the existing email
systems of the internet.  Once a computer is infected, one of several things
can
happen.  If the computer contains a hard drive, that will most likely be
destroyed."

(and get this)
"If the program is not stopped, the computer's processor will be placed in a
nth-complexity infinte binary loop which can severly damage the processor if
left running that way too long."  (If anybody can explain that in a way I can
understand, please do)

"It always travels to new computers the same way in a text email message with
the subject line reading 'Good Times.'  Avoiding infection is easy once the
file
has been received - not reading it!"

"The program is highly intelligent, it will send copies of itself to everyone
whose email address is contained in a receive-mail file or a sent-mail file,
if
it can find one.  It will then proceed to trash the computer it is running
on."

This is for any of you who have not heard of this virus.  For any of you that
already knew, why the hell didn't you tell me?!?

--- jason

---

From: Steve Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 96 10:58:10 MST

> For any of you that already knew, why the hell didn't you tell me?!?
> 
> --- jason 

The "good times" letter is a known hoax. It is completely false. 
Don't feel bad about being taken in--tons of people were and still
are. Just stop propogating the rumor.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I am an electrical engineer. I spend 75% of my working hours at a
computer. I am quite skilled at using both PC's and Unix systems. I
know what I am talking about.

Before writing, I discussed the "good times" letter with a co-worker
who knows more of computers than I do. He concurs.

> Please be careful and forward this mail to anyone you care about." 

There is no way for a virus to do anything to your machine if it is
email. It must be converted (manually) to an executable program, AND
EXECUTED manually. This is why passwords are so important; if someone
can log on "as you", they can do the manual parts that you would never
think of doing.

> major imporatnace to any regular user of the internet.

No they didn't.

> left running that way too long."  (If anybody can explain that in a way I can

If you will excuse the expression, this is undiluted horse do-do, with
hogwash on the side.

> the subject line reading 'Good Times.'  

Somebody so smart as to do the impossible would not make it so obvious
as to label it "Good Times".

--
Steve Smith
[email-masked]