| Forum Home | ||||
| Press F1 | ||||
| Thread ID: 21680 | 2002-07-01 09:31:00 | WARNING!! Virus Warnings should not come by Email!!! | Graham Petrie (449) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 58834 | 2002-07-02 22:27:00 | Agree with Susan - there is definitely a FAQ in this. I've had plenty of experience of the hoax email, both virus and other types, and with a few minutes effort it is usually ridiculously easy to check whether it is a hoax or not. I've even had them forwarded to me by other staffers (cough ... journo .. cough cough) who failed to pick up on the tell tale signs. So a FAQ outlining the simple steps you can take to verify whether the threat is real would be a good idea. Then we can all just send folks the URL to the FAQ instead of explaining it all over again .... |
Biggles (121) | ||
| 58835 | 2002-07-02 22:30:00 | Well said Graham... I think it deserves FAQ status as well. Heather sums up the public attitude well, and I guess we find the public gullibility quite amazing. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 58836 | 2002-07-02 22:44:00 | >I guess we find the public gullibility quite amazing you got that right. after all how many people who use pc's can't work a VCR ;-) |
tweak'e (174) | ||
| 58837 | 2002-07-02 23:30:00 | I can work a PC and a computer, but I can't work a Playstation LOL | dot_com (558) | ||
| 58838 | 2002-07-03 00:15:00 | I encourage/ask/plead with my email correspondees to please put in a meaningful subject line, something that they know will make sense to me as I know them. Now I'm beginning to think it might be a good idea to have a password in the subject line that you both know. If I get an email from a friend/colleague/known contact whatever and it doesn't have the password but something like 'hey look at these pics' then I'd think some dork virus writer has busted into their address book and sent some of their nasty deranged work on to me. What do you thin of that? | mark c (247) | ||
| 58839 | 2002-07-03 01:00:00 | nice idea but most people can't keep track of all the 'passwords' expecially commerical companies are not going to go out of their way to help. just keep your virus defs uptodate, plug all known flaws in your software, practice safe email ;-) and keep good backups. most importantly pass that info on to all your email mates rather than waste time sending'look out for this virus' emails. |
tweak'e (174) | ||
| 58840 | 2002-07-03 06:54:00 | Computers are basically very fast abacuses - extremely good at calculations involving noughts and ones . Do I trust the results that come from it? No . If what it tells me is important I will double-check the data and cross-check the answers . The trouble is computers produce very pretty results . The sheer beauty of the results lulls one into a false sense of security because they look valid . Glossy brochures, complex websites, graphs, calculation results, virus warnings . . . all appear valid on the surface . All need to be checked and double checked . Unfortunately computers are sold as toasters . Plug them in, turn them on and they work . What the sales people don't say is that there is a very steep learning curve and that before playing with the toys and the fancy software one needs to learn the basics . The number one rule is: Don't trust a computer until you've checked the results! |
Heather P (163) | ||
| 58841 | 2002-07-03 07:03:00 | Exactly . When pocket calculators became popular, there were a lot of people getting wrong answers to 8 decimal places . "There are lies, damned lies, statistics, and Excel" . ]:) |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 1 2 | |||||