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Thread ID: 34280 2003-06-09 00:21:00 Virus FrankS (257) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
151098 2003-06-09 00:21:00 Just received an E mail from an unknown person containing a copy of E mail from that person to a known friend with a attachement My Money.mny.scr
Checking file extension .scr gave the following warning

Extension: SCR Program and/or Extension Function: Company: Windows Screen Saver Specific Notes: Many Windows screen savers come with a .SCR extension by default. Usually these will be found in the Windows main directory. Use caution if you receive a screen saver file via E-mail. These files can contain executable code and can be worms or viruses.

Did not open attachement and checking with friend found some of his associates had also receivced same E mail and regrettably opened the attachement with consequent problems.
Suggest keep your anti virus updated almost daily at the moment with Symatec having issued 5 batches of updates in the past week or so. FrankS
FrankS (257)
151099 2003-06-09 00:34:00 The suffix . scr is for a windows scrap object as well as (presumably) for screen savers . I wouldn't know about the latter because I don't waste time on eye-candy .

However, I have assigned a red warning triangle icon to the . scr suffix so that if anything turns up in my files it will stick out like the proverbial dog's reproductive equipment . :D

I assign the same red triangle to any other suspect suffix I come across as well . That is in addition to keeping my AV up to date of course

Cheers

Billy 8-{) :)
Billy T (70)
151100 2003-06-09 09:38:00 Anyone who gets infected after opening an attachment with a file name ending in .exe .pif or .scr after all the publicity and information in recent years about viruses and the importance of keeping Windows updated deserves the consequences. Jim B (153)
151101 2003-06-09 10:34:00 That might be a little harsh Jim, because newer versions of Windows do not display file extensions by default and a lot of people do not know how to enable viewing of them .

I believe it is best to teach people to treat ALL attachments as potentially infected until they have been saved to the hard drive and scanned with an up to date AV rather than open any of them .
Susan B (19)
151102 2003-06-09 11:11:00 It might be a bit harsh Susan but I just can't believe that there are still so many people who will open an attachment regardless who it is from.

Later versions of Windows are usually patched so these file extensions extensions don't affect them.

The people that are getting these viruses are usually using unpatched IE 5.0 or 5.5 versions
If they have anti-virus at all it has probably never been updated recently

Yet they still go ahead and open an attachment which is plainly from someone unknown and obviously suspicious. They are really easy to identify.

I agree it is best to educate everyone not to open attachments, which is basically what I was saying in my harsh manner, as being friendly and polite does not seem to have any affect.
Jim B (153)
151103 2003-06-09 11:17:00 The hiding of file extensions is a stupid idea with absolutely no use except to spread viruses. mikebartnz (21)
151104 2003-06-09 11:55:00 Unfortunately there are many trusting people out there. The vast number of them computer naive. But there is hope yet. Pheonix (280)
151105 2003-06-09 22:33:00 Hi Susan, Had a poke round tools/ internet options/advanced but coukd not find anything that seemed to relate to showing file extensions, however a lot of the items on the list don't mean much to me anyway.

It would be very helpful if someone could list just what boxes should be ticked, under normal/average circumstances anyway.

So how do I show file extensions?

IE5.5
Curly (487)
151106 2003-06-09 22:37:00 Hi Curly, you need to go into Windows Explorer to show file extensions, not Internet Explorer. In Win Explorer go to Tools > Folder Options and remove the tick from "Hide extensions for known file types". Susan B (19)
151107 2003-06-09 22:40:00 Just need to open My Computer and follow Susan's instructions re tools.. Pheonix (280)
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