No Subject

[John G. Napoli]

I received this message this morning from a responsible colleauge who
stressed that it is not a joke and is to be taken seriously.

This is the first I have heard of this problem.  However, due to the
potential I am forwarding this information for your review.

>Beware !
>_______________________
>
>
>
>
> COMPUTER VIRUS
>     
>  There is a computer virus that is being sent across the Internet.  If 
>  you receive an e-mail message with the subject line "Good  Times," DO 
>  NOT read the message, DELETE it immediately.  Please read the messages 
>  below.
>     
>  Some miscreant is sending e-mail under the title "Good Times" 
>  nationwide.  If you get anything like this, DON'T DOWNLOAD THE FILE! 
>  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.
>     
>  *************************************************************
>     
>  WARNING!!!!!!!  INTERNET VIRUS
>     
>  The FCC released a warning last Wednesday concerning a matter of major 
>  importance to any regular user  of the Internet.  Apparently a new 
>  computer virus has been engineered by  a user of AMERICA ON LINE that 
>  is unparalleled 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 e-mail 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.  If the program is not stopped, the computer's processor 
>  will be placed in an nth-complexity infinite binary loop - which can 
>  severely damage the processor if left running that way too long. 
>  Unfortunately, most novice computer users will not realize what is 
>  happening until it is far too late.  Luckily, there is one sure means 
>  of detecting what is now known as the "Good Times" virus.  It always 
>  travels to new computers the same way in a text e-mail message with 
>  the subject line reading "Good Times."  Avoiding infection is easy 
>  once the file has been received - do not read it!  The act of loading 
>  the file into the mail server's ASCII buffer causes the "Good Times" 
>  mainline program to initialize and execute.
>     
>  The program is highly intelligent - it will send copies of itself to 
>  everyone whose e-mail 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.  The bottom line here is - if you receive a 
>  file with the subject line "Good Times," delete it immediately!  Do 
>  not read it!  Rest assured that the name was on the "From" line was 
>  surely struck by the virus.  Warn your friends and local system users 
>  of this newest threat to the Internet!  It could save them a lot of 
>  time and money.
>     
>  E N D  O F  N O T E
>
>

Regards,

John