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Date	Original Topic
5th March 2004	Virus Alert - Again By John Young Can I suggest that contributors to the forum please check that they have up-to-date anti-virus precautions in place. I have had several e-mails from persons, who are, or purport to be, who have made entries on the forum, with whom I have no other contact, that contained viruses. Please check your systems. Those received from persons with whom I have no usual contact have been placed on my 'blocked senders' list. John Y.
Date	Replies
5th March 2004	Peter Critchley John's spot on here.. Many viruses will now "spoof", in other words, they will take an email address that is legitimate on your system and make the email it sends out appear to be from the person. It's generally not. With the plethora of viruses out there, the only way to be sure is to protect yourself and your contacts. All the best, Peter
5th March 2004	Melvin Hunt OK! Thanks for that. But for those of us who only have GCSE's in metalwork, (I can make a trowel) could you explain how we can determine if the e mail is genuine or not? Are you saying that my contact address book is being read and than spoofed? That's frightening. I thought that a virus could only be spread via an attachment in an e mail? I am currently running Norton Anti Virus with online updates. Will this be enough to protect me? Thanks again for the warning.
6th March 2004	Peter Critchley Hi Melvin, Hehe.. Don't worry, if you're running Norton, and it's upto date, you'll be fine. You're right about the attachments, as that's the main way viruses are transmitted. It is possible to be infected other ways (through your Internet address when you are connected), but if you're using a firewall (included with Windows XP), that protects you. The main threat however comes from attachments, but by using a combination of virus software, the latest version of your email program and keeping your PC up to date through Windows Update (normally in your Start menu) you should be fine. Mac users don't really have very much to worry about, as the vast majority of viruses are written for PC's. Peter
6th March 2004	Melvin Hunt Mind you, I always had my suspicions that Luscious Lucy from Luton wasn't genuine.
9th March 2004	Neil Aspinshaw Mel, and I thought this was the only "specialist site" that you frequent!!!