Is there any way of putting a "firewall" around an address book since these viruses seem to use it to propagate.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), May 09, 2000

Answers

Chris:

I'm not sure that a firewall around an address book makes much sense. The important thing is to make sure you don't get the worm or virus to begin with. This means not opening attachments unless you know they are safe and using good antivirus software to scan every file you receive from someone else. It certainly won't do you much good if your address book is protected but the worm is loose on your hard drive trashing your files.

-- Jim Cooke (JJCooke@yahoo.com), May 09, 2000.

Yes, there's a way Chris, with Zonelab's ZoneAlarm firewall

"ZoneAlarm now features MailSafe to stop email-borne Visual Basic Script worms, like the "I Love You" virus, "dead-in-its-tracks", thwarting its spread, and preventing it from wreaking havoc on your PC. ZoneAlarm makes ironclad Internet security easy-to-use."

I've been using ZoneAlarm for over 4 months now with no problems at all. It's very stable on my win95 machine, and easy to use. I recommend it highly. And no, I have no connections with or stocks in Zonelab.

-- (y@x.x), May 09, 2000.

Stop using Microsucks products such as Outlook, Messenger, and Internet Explorer, etc. Keep it simple. You don't NEED all the bells and whistles. They take more time to learn and cause you more grief (virus susceptibility, random crashes, etc.) than a minimal setup.

-- a (a@b.ccc), May 10, 2000.

Dear Jim, It occurred to me in an idle moment that if the virus mechanism of infection was blocked then there would be a reduced incidence of trashed hard drives...but I'm no computer wizard as you may have guessed!Luckily my computer is not part of a network & its fairly easy to screen out dubious messages.

y@xx Many thanks for that tip.Pre rollover somebody said that they kept an old computer solely for internet use & a more modern one for everyday usuage.(I think it was Ed Yourdon).I'll check out that link of yours though.

abc. Personally,I'd rather go back to being without a PC but customer expectations dictate otherwise.Good ol Microsoft is hell to use for an Arabic website despite all the frills.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), May 10, 2000.

How about making a batch file that renames your address book(s) and then another to rename them back?

It's a little clumsy but just might do the job of preventing them from being hijaked.

-- Observer (lots@to.observe), May 10, 2000.

Chris:

I think you're laboring under a misapprehension. The address book is a secondary symptom of the worm, not the primary means of infection. Even if you had no address book of any kind, the LoveBug could still be downloaded through any e-mail program and, once executed, would go through your hard drive trashing files. Protecting the address book will do nothing to stop this. The worm uses the address book to try and replicate itself to other people's computers through e-mail - it has no effect one way or the other on your computer.

-- Jim Cooke (JJCooke@yahoo.com), May 10, 2000.

Dear Jim, I hear you!

For once I was being altruistic in as much the entries are in my address book for my convenience not anyone else's. I feel very angry that they could be used to spread mischief & mayhem.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), May 10, 2000.