Help stamp out computer viruses NOW!
Every few months, devastating
viruses that arrive via e-mail attack our School computers. According
to Ruben Hernandez, network administrator, a recent virus was so vicious
that it was necessary to shut down the School’s e-mail service for
two days!
No two viruses are the same—one recent virus took information from
a School computer and e-mailed it off campus!
Many attacks can be halted immediately if we are careful about how we
read our e-mail.
Mr. Hernandez provides the following hints for protecting your computer.
Here’s the scenario: an e-mail arrives in your “in-box.”
No harm has been done thus far.
Step 1: Glance at the sender’s name. This is key, for you may need
to contact the person if you have a question, before you access parts
of the e-mail message that has come from their computer. A pesky e-mail
virus may have taken control and sent the message to you and your friend
may not even know about it!
Step 2: Double click on the unopened message to read it. Now here’s
the critical point: there may be DANGER if you see any attached files
that end with the following letters: .exe .com .bat .pif .lnk or .EXE
.COM .BAT .PIF .LNK The first letter or any combination may be capitalized
or may not be capitalized (.Exe, for example)
If you see any of these letters, STOP! DO NOT click on the attachment
and DO NOT drag it onto your desktop.
These letters ARE COMMANDS for something to begin happening, without
your control, on your computer, something that you may be unable to
stop! Contact the sender to have them confirm verbally if they sent you
a file, or call computer services at ext. 48121.
If the person did not send the message, you can HALT the progress of the
virus and stop it dead in its tracks by DELETING the message immediately.
You may also call computer services for help.
Files that are OK to click on and to move to your computer include Word
Perfect (ends in .wpd); Power Point (ends in .ppt); Excel (ends in .xls).
You may also safely click on Word documents (ending in .doc).
All contents copyright © 2001 Loma Linda University.
All rights reserved. Revised February 14, 2001
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URL: http://www.llu.edu