<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.100" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Here's an
operator who instantantly destroys all messages he cannot identify within two
seconds, saves and inspects all attachments before opening them and
who thought himself immune from viruses for it. Years of trouble-free
operation reinforced the perception.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I recently
subscribed to this group and had an immediate problem managing the sheer volume
of messages coming in. The inevitable spam, baits, decoys etc. met their match
at the door. But soon the junk increased in number and soon reached a
magnitude where I couldn't help suspecting that I had a problem. The short
end of it is that my machine seems to generate and spread viruses. It hasn't
destroyed anything as far as I can tell. It makes the hard drive spin
continuously over extended time periods, in connection with the Explorer it
seems. And sometimes it slows down the user interfaces.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> What do I do next,
one thinks and comes up with a sequence of strategies. But after all of them
having failed, I am left with the sad impression that these days the production
of damage motivates as much intelligence or more as the production of benefits.
Microsoft, Norton and all the other good guys get knocked out by malicious
hackers. Indeed, the Norton virus scanner doesn't start, not even from the CD. A
complete reinstallation of the operating system (Windows ME) was ineffective,
even when started from the CD. I then installed a </FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>firewall but cannot start that one either and so the last resort
seems to be reformatting everything with the nightmarish prospect of
reconfiguring the machine. The data is backed up, all right. The applications I
can uninstall, but that doesn't save them.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> All the while I
think that if I knew the innards ot Windows I'd fix the problem in five minutes.
So, perhaps one of you guys knows.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Suggestions greatly
appreciated.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Frederic</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>(Additional info: The virus is a binary file in an
attachment. A visual inspection of the header reveals a file name:
'details.txt
.pif' (Spaces shove the extension 'pif' out into the peripheral
vision and the eye's focus is supposed to mistake 'txt' for the
extension). The other legible words are: Windows Program, KERNEL32.dll,
LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress. Follows 30 K of binary
stuff.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>