Lesson 6 - Identifying Viruses and Virus Hoaxes

Lesson 6: Identifying Viruses and Virus Warning Hoaxes

Virus warning hoaxes can be just as harmful to your computer as viruses. Using a similar mode of operation to the al-qaeda network, these evil doers work to convince you, the user, to delete your own computer files. In essence, you become the virus. Not only is it important to invest in a good virus program, you also have to know how to research both viruses and hoaxes. This lesson will assist you in researching both topics. (The name of one such virus hoax is sulfnbk.exe)

Note: Never follow e-mail instructions to protect yourself from viruses. If you receive a virus warning, attachment, or link from someone that is suspect, look it up. Its much better to invest your time in research, preventing any damage to your computer.

Very Important: Do not assume, because the e-mail is from someone you know, it is safe. Some viruses take control of the user's address book, and automatically forward themselves to everyone listed, so it would appear as an e-mail from that person. If the text seems strange or odd for the person that sent it, look it up.

There are many reliable sites you can go to for virus information. I have found F-Secure to be a good site for baby steppers.

1. Go to http://www.f-secure.com/virus-info/ and save it as a favorite (bookmark it).

2. Click the "Virus Descriptions" section.

3. Scroll down to the search box (half way down the page).

4. Enter the name of the possible virus (the file name mentioned in the e-mail) into the search box (for this lesson, enter sulfnbk.exe) and click Search.

Note: The results tell you this is a hoax.

5. Click on the first result listed in English, to read about it (F-Secure Hoax Information Pages: Sulfnbk.exe virus hoax).

6. Read about the text of the hoax, and the damage it can cause.

7. Use the

button on AOL or the

button on Internet Explorer to go back to the search box. Take some time to get familiar with this site, and some of the latest updates. You'll be glad you did.

Note: AOL members should forward suspicious e-mail to TOSFiles@aol.com

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