Ever had an E-mail warning of impending doom if you receive a certain E-mail? Have a look at the warning below received this week.

Subject: FW: HUGE VIRUS COMING!!! PLEASE READ & FORWARD

Hi All,I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus!

I checked Snopes (URL above:), and it is for real!!

Get this E-mail message sent around to your contacts ASAP.PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!

You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled ‘POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,’ regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which ‘burns’ thewhole hard disc C of your computer.

This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts It is better to receive
this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called’ POSTCARD,’ even though sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately.This is the worst virus announced by CNN. It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vitalinformation is kept.

TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US

Oh wow that’s scary!! Or perhaps not, at least if you know the classic signs that are there for all to see in every Hoax E-mail like this one.

It is always a “Huge” virus coming. Well OK, sometimes it’s the “worst ever” or the “one with no cure” or any other doom laden prophecy that you care to think of. Grabs the attention eh?

There is always a reference to one or more of the popular, well known anti-virus program vendors - in this case both Norton and McAfee are there. Obviously this is put in to give credibility.

There is usually a reference to some other(s) well known and respected company/organisation/government department. Sure enough, there’s two of them again - CNN and Microsoft. Perhaps the credibility of these two isn’t quite as good though as neither are in the virus crunching business?

Dire warnings of impending loss of everything on your computer is a dead give away. The “burning” of “the whole hard disc C” and the destruction of the “Zero Sector of the Hard Disc” are used in the above example.

Contradictions within the message often creep in due to the efforts of the author to push home the message. Two examples above. Firstly, McAfee discovered it yesterday and there’s no repair yet. What then are Norton doing to get geared up for it? Secondly, If the whole of drive C is destroyed then how can only the Zero Sector be destroyed?

You are always urged to send such E-mails on to everyone in the Universe - or at least those you happen to know!

Hoax E-mails like these are meant to scare the unwitting computer user into sending a tidal wave of E-mails to all and sundry. Yes I hear you, the one at the back, “But I only know ten people so it can’t hurt to send it, just in case”.

Ever heard the story about the Indian Emperor, the grain of wheat and the chess board? If not read about it [1] HERE and then say that it would be OK to send “just in case”.

Don’t fall into the trap cleverly laid for the unwary then. Trust you Anti-virus program which will, I assure you, stop any virus laden E-mail much better than you sending warnings of impending doom to all and sundry.  

Final thought.

You might find it interesting to learn about Message Labs, a company who filter E-mails for major companies and organisations. Every month they publish their results. Read the latest results [2] HERE and yes (when this was written) that does say 2.6 BILLION E-mails checked each day in February with 73.3% of them being Spam!!!!