Hoax Warnings


	Alphabetical Index

NAME:	!0000 trick
ALIAS:	Trick to stop mass mailing viruses

The trick described in the message is not precisely speaking a hoax as it might work against one or two mass mailing worms. But as most mass mailing viruses are not fooled by such a simple trick as incorrect entry in the address book, following these instructions only gives a false sense of security. So it is best to treat this or any similar message as a hoax.

The best way to protect yourself from e-mail worms is to get a good antivirus program and keep the virus definition databases up to date.

For more information see: http://antivirus.about.com/library/weekly/aa082801b.htm

The message below is a hoax:

  To avoid spreading computer viruses, create a contact in your email address
  book with the name : !0000 with no email address in the details. This
  contact will then show up as your first contact. If a virus attempts to do a
  "send all" on your contact list, your pc will put up an error message saying
  that: "The Message could not be sent. One or more recipients do not have an
  e-mail address.  Please check your Address Book and make sure all the
  recipients have a valid e-mail address." You click on OK and the offending
  (virus) message would not have been sent to anyone. Of course no changes
  have been made to your original contacts list. The offending (virus) message
  may then be automatically stored in your "Drafts" or "Outbox" folder.  Go in
  there and delete the offending message. Problem is solved and virus is not
  spread. Try this and pass on to your email contacts.

This message is another common variant of the hoax where 0000 has been replaced with AAA

  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.  Well, 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 it
  will alert you to the fact that the worm has gotten into 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 AAA.  In the window below where it
  prompts you to enter the new email address, type in WormAlert.  Then
  complete everything by clicking add, enter, OK, etc.

  Now, here's what you've done and why it works: the "name" AAA 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 AAA, it will be
  undeliverable because of the phony email address you entered
  (WormAlert).  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.

  Here's the second great advantage of this method: if an email cannot
  be delivered, you will be notified of this in your Inbox almost
  immediately.  Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an
  email addressed toWormAlert could not be delivered, you know right
  away that you have the worm virus in your system.  You can then take
  steps to get rid of it!

[Description created: Jarno Niemel� March 2002]