I learned a computer trick today 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 email address book (contacts), and sends itself to everyone in there, thus infecting all your friends and associates. This trick won't keep the virus from your computer, but it will stop the virus from using your address book to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact, that the virus is on your computer.
Here's what you do:
1. Open your address book or contacts
2. Add or create a "new contact" just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list of email addresses.
3. In the window where you would type your friend's first name, type in AAAAAAA
4. In the window below where it prompts you to enter the new email address type in WormAlert@somewhere.com
5. Complete everything by clicking add, enter, ok, etc.
Now, this is 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 to send itself to all your contacts and friends. When the virus tries to send itself to AAAAAAA, the email will be undeliverable because of the phony email address you entered (WormAlert@somewhere.com).
After the first attempt fails (which it will because of the fake email address), the virus will go no further and your contacts will not be infected.
The second great advantage of this method is that you will receive a message immediately that the email cannot be delivered since it was a fake email address. Thus, if you ever receive an email telling you that an email addressed to WormAlert@somewhere.com could not be delivered, you know that you have a virus on your computer.
Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert
816-842-7774 Office
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