This post has almost nothing to do with letterboxing.
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This isn't a virus.
It's someone trying to fool you into clicking "Yes" so they can send you to
a their page and sell you stuff and load spyware onto your computer.
This webmasters didn't remove this box, nor return it to the website. Your
computer wasn't trashed by a virus, either. It was trashed by a company name
nCase. Go find their site and complain to them.
A simple search of the text in the box gathered this information for me:
http://www.compukiss.com/ckmessageboard/messageview.cfm?catid=3&threadid=343
To quote them:
"MyDoom IS a real virus, BUT the "RPC Doom Virus" pop-up is just an AD. Just
some new technology to increase sales for these hopeless companies!! Since
there is no Close button in the window, just press Alt-F4 to close the
window; end of story."
If your anti-virus software doesn't complain, then it's probably not a
virus.
In general, don't click Yes on boxes that pop-up on the internet.
If you get 'infected' by a program of this sort, go get a spyware detector:
Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoft.de
SpyBot: http://www.safer-networking.org/
Get the Google toolbar:
http://toolbar.google.com
It block popups, so you wouldn't even see that ad in first place. Plus, you
could have just typed the text of that box into the search box and found
many references to this being an ad.
While I'm on my soapbox, here are some good practices:
- If you have an always-on connection, you should have a firewall.
Zone-Alarm, Internet Connection Firewall (built into XP), or a hardware
(Netgear, D-Link, etc...) are all options.
- Install anti-virus. Leave it running all the time.
- Visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com every two weeks, or if you hear
on the news about a new virus. If you have XP and an always on connection,
schedule the updates for the middle of the night so you don't have to
remember.
- If you have Word, Excel, or Outlook on your computer, go to
http://office.microsoft.com and update that software, too.
I'm sure there are more, but if you do those basic things, you'll be a good
netizen by keeping your computer clean and happy.
-- Wes
-----Original Message-----
From: Wendy [mailto:craftwoman_3 @ yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2004 7:08 PM
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LbNA] Webmasters: Is Doom virus back on website again?
Hi Webmasters,
I'm concerned that letterbox "Fish-or-mans Personal Traveler" is back
on the website again!!!
I'm not going to click on it again and find out what happens.
Last time it was there, which was Thursday, I clicked on it and my
computer was trashed. It was an expensive click on my part. My
computer repair person said it was the "Doom" virus!! She e-mailed
you on Thursday, telling you about it. The letterbox was then removed.
Thought you would want to know,
Regards,
~~CraftWoman~~
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]