Forum Archive Index - January 2004

["Malcolm Cameron" <malharcameron@hotmail.com>]

Gaviin at the moment I have had 5 virus updates inlast 48 hours by automatic 
feed. What parts of outlook that are imbeded in micosoft Xp are no problem 
except to me as there is no address book for Viruses  to access . I hope 
this satisfy your concern about my security. This is probally one of the 
most secure private computers around at moment. Due to what has been 
installed and what has been removed Plus the instruction to delete all 
emails with attachments in bulk from the email list.
Thank You
Malcolm




>From: Gavin Treadgold <gav@rediguana.co.nz>
>Reply-To: sharechat@sharechat.co.nz
>To: sharechat@sharechat.co.nz
>Subject: RE: [sharechat] virus ex sharechat
>Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 13:05:08 +1300
>
> > Jim outlook express is not loaded on my computer fot that
> > reason nor is internet explorer used
>
>That all depends, you may find that the components that make up OE *are*
>installed, just that you have no icons to access them and it doesn't appear
>in the add/remoce programs list. MSFT was in court over this very issue. 
>The
>problem being that in their most recent operating systems in the past 2-4
>years, they are so integrated to the operating system that they cannot be
>removed. All they do is remove the icons, and their irritating ability to
>open, when instead you want your more secure browser or email client to
>open. Your machine is still open to the vulnerabilities caused by said
>components though.
>
> > All are on automatic update.
>
>Doesn't matter, what matters is the frequency of the updates. If you only
>update weekly, you'll get nailed by most viruses because they spread so
>quickly, worldwide within 24 hrs these days. So, if you're updating weekly,
>on average you'll get your protection 3.5 days after the release of the
>virus. Yes, you are still reliant upon AV vendors detecting and
>incorporating the signature of the virus. Even so, your AV software needs 
>to
>check for, and download new sig files on a daily basis. Much less, and 
>there
>is little point paying for the software as the virus will likely infect 
>your
>machine before you get protection.
>
> > And suprise suprise after all this mention of attachments there are
> > more and more of them.
>
>Malcolm, these most likely were the current flavour of virus, but they 
>could
>also be how some clients send email. For example, Outlook and Outlook
>Express often sends html emails in winmail.dat attachments (this is default
>behaviour I think) - the result if you receive this on non Outlook mail
>clients is a plaintext email with an attachment called winmail.dat. The
>solution is to disable this irritating Outlook behaviour. Naturally, I 
>think
>winmail.dat can also be used to hide viruses.
>
>So it may be a virus, and it maybe not. Better to err on the side of 
>caution
>though :)
>
>Cheers Gav
>
>
>
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