South Auckland/Counties Chapter

It's so easy now to contact people from all around the world using the Internet, Chat and e-mail.  And you can download so much stuff, like text files, photographs and other programs.  The trouble is that some of the downloads you get may not be very friendly. 

I mean Viruses, of course.

Technically there are different types of 'virus', but they are all unwanted.  Some just do silly things to your screen, like show stupid messages.  Some use your e-mail address book to send out fake messages (and copies of themselves) to other people.  For example, I got a message from myself, a while ago, which I definitely didn't send. - I updated my virus checker very quickly!

Others may allow another person to get into your computer when you are on line.  
But the worst kind will actually cause loss of files, at least, and at the worst will damage or destroy the computer!

How do you get a virus?  Well, usually someone sends it to you, either accidentally or deliberately.  I got one accidentally by e-mail some time ago from someone in this chapter.  (They got it also by accident from England the year before, and thought they had got rid of it.)  I noticed it because it came as an e-mail attachment with an unusual file name ("happy99.exe"), which I recognized.  I scanned it and confirmed that it was a virus.  This one can be very harmful.  I deleted the e-mail straight away, and advised the sender.  ("quaz.exe" showed up on my computer during a daily virus check a few weeks ago, and got dealt with quickly.  This is the one which hit Microsoft recently.)

Another harmful virus 'doing the rounds' just now by e-mail is "navidad.exe"  DON'T OPEN IT!!  December 2000

Other  viruses come disguised as a joke program, particularly an animated picture, and lots of young people like to send these to their friends as a joke, often not realizing that they are harmful.

Another way is for a virus to send itself by e-mail to another person.  If you get a message saying something like "Here is the information you wanted - Click here"  and no other message, delete it, and then contact the sender.

The last thing you want to do is to wipe out your host family's computer!!

My recommendations for safe computing are:
 

Cheer up, it might not happen!