posted 12-20-2001 01:11 PM         

(It will let you know when you get a worm, and save your friends from getting infected. You still have to get rid of the worm you got, but this will keep it from spreading.)

It's a computer trick that's really ingenious in its simplicity.

As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer it heads straight for your email address book and sends itself to everyone in there, thus infecting all your friends and associates.

This trick won't keep the virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address book to spread further, and will alert you to the fact that the worm has invaded your system.

Here's what you do:

First, open your address book and click on "New Contact" just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list of email addresses.

In the window where you would type your friend's first name, type in !000 (that's an exclamation mark followed by 3 zeros).

In the window below where it prompts you to enter the new email address, type in WormAlert@you.com.

Click Save and close.

Now, here's what you've done and why it works: the "Name" !000 will be placed at the top of your address book as entry #1. This will be where the worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends. But when it tries to send itself to !000, it will be undeliverable because of the phony email address you entered (WormAlert@you.com).

If the first attempt fails (which it will because of the phony address), the worm goes no further and your friends will not be infected.

posted 12-20-2001 07:46 PM         

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