Im not sure where I should post this but I think that this warning is important. I just received it today.I thought you should all know.The Original Alert came from BTE
>WORST EVER VIRUS (CNN announced)
>
>PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST !!
>A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified by
>Microsoft as the most destructive ever! This virus was
>discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee and no vaccine has yet
>been developed.
>
>
>This virus simply destroys Sector Zero from the hard
>disk, where vital information for its functioning are stored. This
virus
>acts in the
>following manner: It sends itself automatically to all contacts on
your
>list with the title "A Virtual Card for You." As soon
> as the supposed virtual card is opened, the computer freezes so
that
>the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+del keys or the reset
button
> are pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently
>destroying the hard disk. Yesterday in just a few
>hours this virus caused panic in New York, according to news broadcast
>by CNN. This alert was received by an employee of Microsoft itself.
So
>don't open any mails with subject: "A Virtual Card for You." As soon
as
>you get the mail,
>delete it. Please pass this mail to all of your friends. Forward this
to
>everyone in your address book. (I would rather receive this 25 times
>than not at
> all.) Also: Intel announced that a new and very destructive virus
was
> discovered recently. If you receive an email called "An Internet
Flower
> For You," do not open it. Delete it right away! This virus removes
all
>dynamic link libraries (.dll files) from your computer. Your computer
>will not be
>able to boot up !!
Dazza

I'm glad you posted this here ... because I'd like to bring people's attention to the fact that THIS IS A HOAX. I have received this same email so many times .... it originated back in January, and has circled the globe via emails so many times, it amounts to spam. I know you didn't know that, and you were sincerely trying to prevent folks from having something terrible happen to their computers.

Symantec has an excellent and up-to-date listing of all Virus Hoaxes. You might want to bookmark this site .. http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html (scroll down the page, you'll see the Virtual Card, and all the other names it goes by)

This is a good reminder to folks to keep their anti-virus software updated and to scan regularly.

Doreen

BTW, hoax key phrases....

-PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST !!

I would have thought the hoax people would have stopped saying this because it gives it away so quickly.

-the virus destroys (whatever), thus permanently destroying the hard disk.

Real viruses distroy data, not hard drives. There used to be ones that could command the hard drive to park the heads on command, but that doesn't work anymore, don't know why.
Anyone know?

This is funny...
"This virus acts in the following manner: It sends itself automatically to all contacts on your list ... Forward this
to everyone in your address book. " Hehehe...

That gives me an idea... have a virus hoax that warns of a virus and attach a real virus (trojan) to it that claims to be the patch or fix to remove the virus.

This is just a guess, it's probably because manufacturers now added settings for flash memory BIOS over-write. These setting have to be changed manually by changing the pins, to allow software flash updates.

You're right, I delete anything that says "forward to everyone on your list"

Wa'il

I delete every email from anyone I don't know without opening it. Color me paranoid.

Me too Raven, if I don't know an address unfortunately the message gets "deleted"!!!

Figured it was a hoax when there was absolutely no metion of it on cnn.com. Seems if they'd reported on it, you'd be able to find the information

Nat

I too delete these email, and block the senders. I also NEVER open any attachments, PERIOD! My husband is in IT and is always warning me.

THIS IS NOT A HOAX

Just heard this on CBC National News ... and has been web-posted to all Virus Scan /Protection websites. The Nimda virus is spread by email, and can be picked up by visiting unsecure websites. Do not open attachments with the *.eml extension.

Here is more info: http://www.symantec.ca/avcenter/ven...nimda.a~mm.html

I already know without asking that lowcarb.ca and lowcarber.org are safe

Doreen

Yes, we're pretty safe from this worm/virus (this is different than the hoax about hard disk damage).

If you visit a compromised web site, you will be prompted to download a file (without you clicking anything). Just hit cancel.

Our web site will still suffer by being a bit slower than usual, since we get several attempts per minute of this worm to get in

Wa'il

I work at the University of Phoenix and Nimba is kicking our butts.

What a mess. From what I've read, it's possible for people to spread the virus, but not be infected. It only attacks servers run a particular version of an MS server software. I'm sure Doreen's link shows what that is. I looked it up on Symantec's eariler, but our server is so slow now, i don't want to look it up.

I assume this is a denile of service type attack meant to annoy everyone but not do any real damage.

I saw the same thing while I was watching the Attorney General speak. Sheesh as if we didn't have enough things to contend with right now. They intimated that it might be another terrorist attempt to hurt the U.S. This one's going to hurt everybody though.

Fortunately, it's not denial of service. But it does more than slow down things, it can render servers accessable to hackers.

Wa'il