29th August 2001

Coming from the "Germ Warfare" Department, Lockergnomie Kok Wee passes along a tip that might stop those worms dead in their slimy tracks. You remember the Love bug, right? When launched, it sent itself to everybody in your address book automatically. At least, for those people who had the "Send messages immediately" option turned on. It has been suggested that you create a dummy entry in your address book to foil those cursed script demons. Adding "!0000" without an e-mail address will do nicely; this new entry will sit at the top of your address book. When the digital millipede attempts to send itself to your contacts, the system will display an error akin to: "This message could not be sent. Please check your Address Book and make sure all of the recipients have valid e-mail addresses." The offending originator may then be stored in your 'Drafts' or 'Outbox' folder. This sounds plausible (in theory). I'd consider it a protective measure that, at worst, may stop a future intruder. Assuming the worm is "dumber" than SirCam, its replication process won't proceed without further user intervention. But don't be lulled into a false sense of security. Your best bet is to never open anything without scanning it for viruses, scripts, or trojans first. Even then, be leery. Know, too, that images are relatively benign at this point.