Virus warning! Please check it out.

[Jerry]

If it is not true , fine, but i'd be remiss not to share with AP members
It was from a friend.
HI ALL!  THIS was sent to me by our son who is in charge of the computers for the state of Florida -- whenever he receives anything like this it is a warning to the State as well as all us little people --
 
VERY IMPORTANT!   PLEASE READ THIS
 
Anyone-using Internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on. This information arrived this morning, Direct from both Microsoft and Norton Please send it to everybody you know who has Access to the Internet. You may receive an apparently harmless e-mail titled 'Mail Server Report' If you open either file, a message will appear on your screen saying: 'It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful...." Mail server report"
 
Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC, And the person who sent it to you will gain access to your Name, e-mail and password. This is a new virus which started to circulate on Saturday afternoon. AOL has already confirmed the severity, and the anti virus software's are not capable of destroying it.
 
The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself 'life owner'.
 
PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS E-MAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS, And ask them to PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY!
 
THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY SNOPES.
 
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/mailserver.asp <http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/mailserver.asp>
 

 

 

 

[Sean]

It's Fake...

[Jerry]

good news.  The Snopes thing too?

[Esther]

Good grief. Why do these people waste their time scaring us half to death? They should be working on real viruses. NOT. But it is odd they send these things out and then they aren't really what they say. I don't mean Jerry. Because I have gotten caught in this stuff too. At least we are reminded to be careful about what we open.

[EagleEye]

Believing Snopes is like believing EagleEye
If I don't know, I'll make something up just like them'

Steve

[Esther]

You know, I just read a thing about SNopes that wasn't very complimentary. Now of course I don't now where it was that I read it. Evidently they aren't the "know alls" that I thought they were.

[Bearb]

The Snopes article linked does not confirm this is real. It is interesting that the perpetrator of this ruse added it. I bet he/she is counting on the fact that many will see the snopes reference, not bother to read it and on it goes. That probably makes it funnier to the (insert insulting name here) who creates this sort of nonsense. I can't imagine the man hours and money spent on computer viruses and hoaxes, people who make them drive me nuts. Many of them don't do much more than cause damage and inconvenience to innocent people (without any real benefit to the writer). I think that many of these folks do it to show that they are smart enough to do it. I'm smart enough to figure out how to break into my neighbor's house, I don't need to go in there and smash his TV to boos my ego. . .

[Bearb]

Snopes is just like anything else. You can't assume that they are the premier authority. You have to chase down their sources to your own level of satisfaction. They will tell you this themselves. In fact, I was there a few years ago and read something that made me say "there is no way that is true" somewhere on that article there was a link that took me to a page that said they made it up and warned you not to believe everything you read. There are several articles like this in snopes; they clearly indicate that they are full of beans but you have to be thorough enough to see it. If memory serves, one of them is about Mr. Ed being a zebra. . .

Edit: In case anyone is interested, I just did a quick check on snopes and the Mr. Ed article is now listed as false, but it still has the link to the warning page.
 http://www.snopes.com/lost/false.asp
This page has links to the other spoofs and some of them are still marked true. . . BTW it was the California flag article that I read a few years ago.

[Jerry]

I did the right thing posting it.. Err on the side of caution.

[Esther]

You bet Jerry. Besides, it still reminds us to keep on our toes.

[Bearb]

Jerry, I hope you didn't read my post as critical of you posting a warning, that is appreciated! The whole concept of computer viruses makes me mad. . .

[Jerry]

Not to worry.  Your critique was fine.  I am wrong often. :'(

[Bearb]

"I am wrong often."
Not me, I thought I was wrong once. . . turns out I was mistaken.