Possible Virus

[Gwizz]

Even if not true, this is worth noting.
------------------------------------------------

If you receive a mail

called' POSTCARD,' even though sent to you by a

friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer

immediately. This is the worst virus announced

by CNN.


It has been classified

by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.

This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday,

and there is no repair yet for this kind of

virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero

Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital

information is kept.

[Blackhawk]

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp

According to snopes this has been around for a couple years now. So while there probably are new variations of it all the time, it's still likely fixable and not as deadly as said.

I'd also say if you do for some reason shut down your computer when it gets infected, the best way to do that is probably a cold shut down. Just pull the cord or hold the power button for the 5-10 seconds it takes for it to shut down. Otherwise in the shut down process who knows what actions the virus could be taking.

For people with 2 computers a virus is not that big of a deal as you can go on the non-infected computer and figure out what virus you have and how to remove it. For people with only 1 computer, I'd suggest you keep a copy of a Linux Live CD (like Knoppix). This way you can run the computer off the linux operating system on the cd/dvd rather than have to go into Windows which is infected with a virus. You can then use Linux to browse the internet to find what virus you have and what steps you would need to take to fix it.

[Hawk]

I never open those emails. I just delete them.

I've got an 82 year old aunt that used to send me legitimate e-cards and I still never opened them. I finally convinced her tat it didn't do any good to send them because I never see them.
She's since quit sending them.

Since I run my email app with the preview pane closed by default, I can see the subject before ever opening the email. Hence avoiding any execution of malware.

[thegrindre]

Thanks for the info, Gwizz. I'm like Ed, if the subject matter isn't specific about trains or modeling or something like that, I just tag 'em and delete 'em.