Doubts about viruses

[Maria]

I am sorry to post this in a Disney site, but my AIM is down and I need to know.

When you receive an email with one of those attached files that contains a virus, if you don´t click on the attachment to dload it, does the virus still infect your system?

Let´s say I open the email, but when I see the attachment´s name, I recognize it´s the new virus (Norvarg or something like that) so I don´t dload the attachment, and delete the email. Then I run my antivirus (Norton) and it doesn´t find anything. Am I safe or has it already affected my computer? If so, how?

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Maria]

Don´t let my thread sink in the depths of chit chat!

 

[SpongeScott]

Maria,

I don't think you can get a virus just from opening an e-mail. You have to open an attachment with it that is infected with the virus. If you are suspicious, simply delete the e-mail without opening the file.

Someone correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by SpongeScott

Someone correct me if I am wrong.

See? that´s what I thought, but I am getting paranoid about it! Hope I didn´t get you worried now...

 

[SpongeScott]

No, not worried, just wanting to make sure I'm not giving you false information. In fact, I've been sent viruses three different times in the last 24 hours. They are coming with zipped attachments, so they just get immediately deleted.

 

[Maria]

same here... that Norvarg (mydoom) new virus that is supposed to be the most dangerous of all has got to me like 5 times today! I opened one but didn´t dlad the .zip attachment.
Then I heard on the news about it and that even the FBI has put a reward for any info about its creator!
It comes with a title like "hello" or with something like a "failure delivery" of a message. Usually with files of 30kb and there is one infected email in every 12!

 

[Woody13]

Maria, you need to run a virus scan:

http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

Norton is not a good virus defense. You may be infected.

 

[tigsmom]

I have gotten 12 virus infected e mails in the last 24 hrs. Just opening the body won't infect the computer...you have to open the attachment. I have been using Norton forever & I had a problem last week. (picked up a Trojan Horse out of an AOL profile listing) Norton totally missed it. I downloaded McAfee and ran it. It found 3 virus infections and over 15 spyware programs. It cleaned the viruses and deleted the spyware. You may want to think about using something other than Norton.
Lately I've been running my antivirus program every day just to make sure. Good Luck! :wave:

 

[Maria]

Thanks! you will see me panicking tonight when I have more chance to be online and can run the antivirus Woody and Steve posted against mydoom!

I haven´t clicked on any attachment, but I am still getting weird emails that I simply delete.

One more question... is it me, or anybody else is having problems to see images, avatars and smileys today here? They don´t load!

 

[Shaman]

Originally posted by Maria
I am sorry to post this in a Disney site, but my AIM is down and I need to know.

I've been having problems with AIM all week...I wonder if something is wrong with their systems or something....

 

[MsSnuzi]

I'm a little worried now - I have Norton Pro 2004 and it's been catching emails with attachments for 2 days now and I thought I was safe. I haven't even opened the emails and definitely not the attachments. I seem to be running fine - but I'm worried that Norton won't catch everything.
What's wrong with these people out there sending the viruses, how can people be that way?

 

[Woody13]

For those of you that are concerned about the MyDoom virus (or others), here is an excellent virus cleaner. It's free and it works better than other virus cleaners on the market:

http://www.avast.com/i_idt_1060.html

 

[Heyyall]

Yeha i have norton and it missed it too. Thank god they were only little ones that I found when I did a computer scan. I hate viruses. How annoying are those things on AIM profiles like the "whoaa look what i found click here" or "I found your picture here" Do you know what ones I'm talking about? I wouldn definitely have one, but I'm suprised that Norton even caught it!

 

[WDWspider]

"Worm - this type of virus has the capability to spread itself automatically over the network from one computer to the next. During a worm attack, users' computers get infected without even having to click open email attachment or any program, etc. As an example, in the early August of 2003, a worm by the name of Blaster infected more than 1 million computers worldwide. In similar case, Welchia, an antidote to Blaster, clogged huge amounts of network computers and caused computers crashes."

A worm virus can spread even if you don't open the email attachments.

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by WDWspider
"Worm - this type of virus has the capability to spread itself automatically over the network from one computer to the next. During a worm attack, users' computers get infected without even having to click open email attachment or any program, etc. As an example, in the early August of 2003, a worm by the name of Blaster infected more than 1 million computers worldwide. In similar case, Welchia, an antidote to Blaster, clogged huge amounts of network computers and caused computers crashes."

A worm virus can spread even if you don't open the email attachments.

CHIT!