The consequences of getting hit with a virus can range from annoying to devastating.
Sometimes, though, what you think is a virus isn't one at all. Often users will
mistake unexpected computer behavior for the presence of a virus. The so-called
Beethoven Virus is a good example. Every once in a while, a client will call or
a stranger will e-mail, sure that his or her computer has an annoying virus,
because it won't stop playing Beethoven's Für Elise. As it turns out, this tune
is coming from the system's bios; it's played as a warning by motherboards
manufactured by Diamond Flower International to indicate that the computer is
overheating or the power supply voltage is too high or too low.
Another kind of "virus that isn't" is even more annoying: hoax
viruses. They don't bear code that can be executed by a computer; instead they
stimulate human beings to copy and send them far and wide. In a sense, you
might say that these messages are viruses that infect the human brain rather
than the computer.
All hoax viruses are essentially chain letters. (For an excellent treatise
on chain letters, their histories, and the tactics they use to encourage people
to forward them, see www .silcom. com/ ~barnowl/ clevo/start.htm.) Many contain
pleas to the recipient to help locate missing children, save National Public
Radio, call one's representatives in congress to forestall a per-message tax on
e-mail, or fulfill a dying child's last wish.
Ironically, many of the most common hoax viruses claim to contain
information about other viruses. One recent example bears a dire warning about
the nonexistent A.I.D.S. Virus:
There is a virus out now being sent to people via e-mail.... It is called
the A.I.D.S. Virus. It will destroy your memory, sound card, speakers, and hard
drive, and it will infect your mouse or pointing device, as well as your keyboard,
making what you type not able to register on the screen. It self-terminates
only after it eats 5MB of hard drive space and will delete all programs. It
will come via e-mail called "open: very cool! :)". Delete it
immediately!! It will basically render your computer useless. pass it on
quickly and to as many people as possible! thanks!! :-) >>
Internet chain letters and hoax viruses are resource-wasting nuisances. Here
are some of the telltale signs of Internet hoaxes:
1. A request that the message be passed on to a large number of people.
2. Failure to cite authoritative sources, or vague appeals to authority (for
example, "aol says that this is a really nasty virus!").
3. Bogus claims that every copy that is re-sent will somehow be tallied (for
example, a statement that for each copy you pass on, some amount of money will
be donated to a worthy cause).
4. Improbable statements about technology, such as the claim above that the
A.I.D.S. virus could infect your mouse.
5. A petition claiming you can sign it by adding your name and passing the
message on. (No government or politician has ever taken seriously a petition
that was not signed in ink.)
Interestingly, some hoax viruses started as well-intentioned pleas for help
that got out of hand. For example, the Save npr petition started as an earnest
attempt by two students at the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley to
campaign against funding cuts for public radio. Another widely circulated
message, urging recipients to hunt for a lost little girl, was apparently sent
by parents who briefly could not locate their daughter. Both have circulated
for years since they were first unleashed and have mutated to make it difficult
to tell that they are obsolete.
Urban Legends
Urban Legends, like Hoaxes, are warnings or a stories about
various topics designed like campfire ghost stories to scare people. Some
legends are based on fact, then elaborated to the typical "tall tales" now
passed around in Email circles. Have you received an Email advising you
NOT to flash your headlights at cars with theirs turned off after dark,
only to have an initiating gang member turn around and chase you in order
to shoot you?
Here are a couple of sites that elaborate on the
validity of some of the more popular Urban Legends, whether they be true,
based on truth or totally false. You decide.
McAfee The San
Fernando Valley Folklore Society's Urban Legends Reference Pages
McAfee Vmyths.com
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