Internet problems this weekend.

steven_ber

There seems to be a lot of problems with the Internet this weekend, I am on a 'fast, permanent' connection and have already lost the connection twice this morning.

There are many millions of infected e-mails flying around the net this weekend; this is causing the net to clog-up.

Messages are probably best done on 'Microsoft Word' then 'copy and paste' them, this way, if you do lose the connection you will not lose the message.

*Don't open any attachments in E-mails unless you are sure you know who has sent it.

indiamike

Yahoo Story

For those using the Indiamike.com email accounts here, I don't think any other accounts besides mine are receiving the message. I have received over a thousand in the last two days in my inbox alone.

If our email users receive a message like this just so you know the emails are filtered through a virus filter so you may still get the message but it will be a stripped down clean version of it without the virus attached. So you won't be able to get the virus from our email accounts.

The attack is similar to a DOS attack on servers and that explains why the internet is slowing to a halt, the machines that run it can only take so much.

Again this is all because of spammers and they suck and should just buy advertising like everyone else.

See Also the
Internet Traffic Report to follow the connection speed worldwide.

Mike

rab

My connection is fine. Me and mrs rab are networked and both surfing on a 33.6 Kbps dial-up connection 'cos we live in the middle of no-where.

Steve is right though don't open attachments unless you trust the sender. If you get problems the Symantec website is very helpful.

I sorted out my neighbour's MS Blaster virus the other day with this.

Alan D

Thanks for the info and reassurances Steven and Mike. So far I'm OK though it's become a major topic of conversation here - I got into a conversation in the supermarket about SoBig yesterday!

As you both know I'm not computer saavy but one thing that's stuck in my brain is not to open attachments from unknown sources.

However I have one question.

Can an attachment from someone I know be infected? I mean if someone I know is infected can they unwittingly pass the virus on?

__________________
What a long strange trip it's been!

indiamike

Absolutely!

Especially with this virus. No email address is really safe and even my own address has been used to send out the virus. Someone adds me to their Outlook address book and gets the virus and all of a sudden I am sending the virus with my email account address. I have already seen it since any email that's undeliverable will bounce back to me so my own email addy is in the loop somewhere there (really stinks to).

You would be at a higher risk if you use an email program to collect your mail. For example if you use Outlook Express or Eudora the infected email may launch automatically.
Using web-based mail is a safer alternative and it's one of the reasons Microsoft is making a push for people to use this method.

So your odds are quite a bit lower if you don't use Outlook or Eudora. A combination of a good virus checker and using web based email is a safe alternative.

Mike

--note-- also most viruses will have an unfamiliar extension attached to them other than the normal zip, jpg, gif, html, etc..etc.. extension. So be wary of attachments that end with unfamiliar endings.

LuAnnandJawahar

A utility to check for the virus:
http://download.nai.com/products/mca...rt/stinger.exe

Another article about the virus:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/954470.asp

__________________
Reject violence.

edwardseco

Used rules of deletion on my academic address and finally made enough of them to beat back the virus attack (after more than a hundred such posts)..