Warning Virus July 31st

gde...@my-dejanews.com propagated ---8<----

Hmmmmmmmmmm... seems highly bogus to me. As I understand it, you are only
at risk if you download files or attachments. Should be okay reading messages
on the newsgroups. Self executing virus? 3 a.m. July 31st? Think I'll go and 
check under the bed for communists!!!



       `   `       `    `
         `     `      `
       `   `  \/////      `
              < oO >   `          Paul Applewhite
       `      /""""\      `
          .oO/\____/\Oo. `        Sheffield University
        `    ( \__/ )     `
            =|\____/|=    `       ELP96PFA_AT_Sheffield_DOT_ac_DOT_uk
       `      \|\\|/    `
           `   |//|  `    `
        `      '..'     `  always bleedin' rainin'

Please don't perpetuate these hoaxes!!!  YOU CANNOT GET AN VIRUS IN AN
E-MAIL MESSAGE!!  DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THE SUBJECT SAYS!!!  An e-mail
message is only a text message.  Viruses are contained in programs and
applications.  You can get a virus from an attachment or software you
download from the web only.  To protect yourself, virus check any software
or attachments before you open them.  But you're safe reading your e-mail,
no matter what the subject is.



In article <6ppt10$qlg$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, gde...@my-dejanews.com wrote:

> Hello,
> I have received the following message. I don�t know if it is reliable or not.
> In any case, I thought it was proper to post it to the newsgroup.
> �
> Warning!!!!!! Virus on July 31st!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> This virus is been programmed to be executed next July 31st (according to
> Georgetown hour, wich is GMT 03.00) Seems to be that day is the author�s
> birthday.�
> The virus will self-executed.
> Seems to be it�s not possible to detect this virus using most popular Virus
> scanners, like ThunderByte, Scan, Norton, MSAV, F-Prot or Panda.�
> If the virus is executed on the said day, the consecuences will be the
> following:
> Login, password, DNS and tel. number will be send to an Internet adress. After
> that, the FAT (File Alocation Table) will be destroyed leaving the hard disk
> irrecoverable.
> That�s why it is recommended to keep every PC off on July 31st (according to
> Georgetown hour, wich is GMT 03.00)
> Please send this message to other people.
> Please do not send any message on July 31st .
> 
> -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
> http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp   Create Your Own Free Member Forum

In article <rus...@golden-46.rockies.net>,
rus...@rockies.net (Lori Russell) wrote:

> Please don't perpetuate these hoaxes!!!  YOU CANNOT GET AN VIRUS IN AN
> E-MAIL MESSAGE!!  DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THE SUBJECT SAYS!!!  An e-mail
> message is only a text message.  Viruses are contained in programs and
> applications.  You can get a virus from an attachment or software you
> download from the web only.  To protect yourself, virus check any software
> or attachments before you open them.  But you're safe reading your e-mail,
> no matter what the subject is.

lol, actually now it is possible to have your hard drive harmed by reading
email. Check out
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/security/?/ie/security/oelong.htm

The problem also exists for other email programs.

Ah, another computer-illiterate trying to get us to believe some phoy
virus is gonna wipe out our entire existance in cyberspace, I remember
the good ol' days when virus hoaxes didn't exist (Dec. 1993 to May
1995), but life goes on...

Actually, it is now possible to get viruses through browser based email. 
I forget where the site was that said it, tho. If you're still using text
based mail, then you're right, a virus would be impossible. But for those
who are using Netscape or IE to read their mail, it is entirely possible to 
get a virus now.

Actually I think this one *DID* nail me. My C drive went belly up
about 3AM with a loud Clunk and a message about not being able
to write to the C drve. When I tried to reboot the Cdrive was no
longer accessible. I built a boot disk from a full-drive ZIP I put
on my office machine and when I booted, the drive had lost
all partitioning. I repartitioned using Fdisk and reformatted.
Reloaded Win 95 and al the rest off CD-Roms. My 2nd drive
was completely intact. Just the 1st drive got trashed. Took all
my ASCII-art with it :-( :-( :-(

Tom <t2j...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>Actually I think this one *DID* nail me. My C drive went belly up
>about 3AM with a loud Clunk and a message about not being able
>to write to the C drve. When I tried to reboot the Cdrive was no
>longer accessible. I built a boot disk from a full-drive ZIP I put
>on my office machine and when I booted, the drive had lost
>all partitioning. I repartitioned using Fdisk and reformatted.
>Reloaded Win 95 and al the rest off CD-Roms. My 2nd drive
>was completely intact. Just the 1st drive got trashed. Took all
>my ASCII-art with it :-( :-( :-(


That's very interesting indeed.

You have accurately described what happened when my hard disk
crashed and on checking dates I see that January 31 not July 31.
I got no warning though.

Does this virus also work on January 31 as wellas July 31.

Then just recently over two or three days which could have been
around July 31 I kept getting lockups and then messages saying C:
drive was invalid when I was doing file transfers from C: to A:
drives and vice versa...something I do zillions of times a week.

I didn't have a crash and eventually overcame the trouble by
switching off and doing cold boots and then it seemed to clear up
after a day or two.

Is this July 31st virus a Boot Virus or one that affects it?  If it
is then even reformatting the hard disk will not clear the virus.

Where is the technical info on thsi July 31 virus and how does the
infection occur?

My problem is that my 486DX machine was secondhand. I got it
at Christmas 1997 but I do not know its history so it may have a
latent virus lurking around because I do not use dubious software.

Bye,