How to protect your address book -- RealityFans

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Date Posted: 20:44:15 05/31/02 Fri
Author: Tweety
Subject: How to protect your address book

An old friend, living at a distance, didn't know I had an iMac and wouldn't need this. But I'm glad she sent it along in case it could be helpful to you.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ADDRESS BOOK.

I learned 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 e-mail 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 it 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 e-mail addresses.

In trhe window where you would type your friend�s first name, type in
AAAAAAA. In the window below where it prompts you to enter the new
e-mail address, type in WormAlert@somewhere.com. Then complete
everything by cllicking add, enter, ok, etc.

Now here's what you've done and why it works. The name AAAAAAA
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 AAAAAAA it will be undeliverable because
of the phony e-mail address you entered (WormAlert@somewhere.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.

Here's the second great advantage of this method. If an e-mail cannot be
delivered, you will be notified of this in your InBox almost immediately.
Hence, if you ever get an e-mail telling you that an e-mail addressed to
WormAlert@somewhere.com 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. Pretty slick, huh? If everybody you know does this,
then you needn't ever worry about opening mail from friends.

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Replies:

Snopes.com's say on this -- WE67, 21:06:17 05/31/02 Fri
- You guys are making me feel paranoid! -- Cari, 21:26:25 05/31/02 Fri
  - You really want to feel paranoid? -- Tweety, 02:04:12 06/01/02 Sat
Put a condom on it and you be ok -- gmike, 10:28:36 06/01/02 Sat
- Re: Put a condom on it and you be ok -- That is not true, 13:36:51 06/01/02 Sat
  - I've come to the conclusion -- Cari, 18:37:58 06/01/02 Sat
    - Like too many other things, worrying about it too much -- Tweety, 18:53:54 06/01/02 Sat
    - Re: I've come to the conclusion -- That isn't true either, 11:09:50 06/02/02 Sun