This page has a lot of virus support information and links to resources to help you deal with some of the Internet viruses.
Directory to sections covered in this page -
March 7, 2001 -
DO NOT OPEN UP ANY EMAILS WITH THE WORDS "NAKED WIFE". THIS IS A VERY DESTRUCTIVE VIRUS.
A new virus was detected on March 6, 2001. The virus is called "Naked Wife". This virus is extremely destructive. The virus is a mass mailing worm that disguises itself as a flash movie. The attachment is named "NakedWife.exe". This worm, after it has attempted to email everyone in the Microsoft Outlook address book, will attempt to delete several system files. This will leave the system unusable and will require a reimage of your PC.
This virus is currently under investigation.
Here are a couple Symantec sites about it:
February 7, 2001 -
The Privacy Foundation announced that there is a deficiency in the design of the Javascript language that is used in Microsoft's Outlook, Outlook Express and Netscape's recent web browser that permits code to be embedded within an email message that returns a copy of all correspondence it encounters, including forwards, back to the sender (or to anybody anywhere on the Internet for that matter).
A simple corrective action you can do is to disable Javascript translation in your browsers, but this has the side effects of disabling the display of a lot received page content; it also inhibits using some kinds of email attachments, plus it does not protect the recipients of any forwarded email from their email being tapped.
Corrective code is available for the Microsoft products (read the Fine Print on the introduction page!) -
Netscape has announced it will have corrective code available soon.
An extensive discussion of the problem, including a detailed legal opinin, and programming details is at the Privacy Foundation -
Select "Email Wiretapping Advisory, 2/5/01."The original article that exposed this problem is C. Voth's "Reaper Exploit" at -
A full virus encyclopedia that claims to list all known viruses is maintained at -
The following, from Computer Associates, is billed as a full capability package that prevents viruses, Trojan Horses, worms, and macro viruses -
Another site that purports to keep a database of all known viruses -
If your "new virus" is not listed there, then post a message about it to the Virus Hoax Busters Mailing List at
and ask to have it researched. But be warned that this site carries the using of cookies for advertising to an extreme.
The following sites attempt to keep track of the latest virus situation -
The following sites attempt to keep track of the latest virus hoaxes -
The following sites attempt to keep track of the latest urban legends -
A recently reported problem in Outlook or Outlook Express has the potential to allow some future virus (probably won't take long) to take over your machine JUST BECAUSE YOU DOWNLOAD YOUR EMAIL.
News story:
Upgrade:
Discussion:
Explanation: A component shared by Outlook and Outlook Express, Inetcomm.dll, contains an unchecked buffer in the functionality that parses e-mail headers when downloading mail via either POP3 or IMAP4. By sending an e-mail that overruns the buffer, a malicious user could cause either of two effects to occur when the mail was downloaded from the server by an affected e-mail client.
If the affected field were filled with random data, the e-mail could be made to crash. If the affected field were filled with carefully-crafted data, the e-mail client could be made to run code of the malicious user's choice.
Posted: July 22, 2000.
Information about the Melissa is available from the DataFellows site at DataFellows; http://www.Europe.DataFellows.com/v-descs/melissa.htm
"The virus activates if it is executed when the minutes of the hour match the day of the month - for example 18:27 on the 27th day of a month. At this time the virus will insert the following phrase into the current document which the user has open in Word: 'Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score, plus fifty points for using all my letters. Game's over. I'm outta here'".
Links for various virus support areas -
Further links which were developed for the Y2K situation, but may still have useful information about this general area -
Another option for virus protection is called "firewall". Here are some firewall options -
A set and forget firewall is available from -
Another personal firewall is ESafe Desktop from Knowledge Systems -
A free firewall is Zone Alarm from Zonelabs -
A tailorable firewall is Synbergen Desktop available from Sybergen -