Internet virus

[onoway]

If anyone sends you an email titled incredible DONT OPEN IT! Its a VIRUS. I was dumb enough to do so..it supposedly was from my brother who never ever uses the computer so I wasn't on guard. Dumb, I know. Anyway, it highjacked all my email addresses. First time I've been caught..I thought that the reason people got programs like AVG was to protect us against such spasms of sheer stupidity.

 

Anyway just in case anyone else also occassionally has brain hiccups, there's the warning

[gwnn]

hm? how can you get infected if you just open an email?

[babalu1997]

hm? how can you get infected if you just open an email?

 

she must have opned the attachment,or followed a link.

 

but some of these internet notices can catch people off guard, especially the older folks who have no contact with computer..

[BunnyGo]

They even caught my brother once (and he's quite savvy...just was late and he the e-mail was convincing). It looked a lot like an e-mail from his credit card, so he clicked the link and filled out the information. As soon as he was done, he realized what had happened, and called the credit card company.

[diana_eva]

I just got one that appeared as being set by Facebook. I thought it was weird that it came on my bridgebase mail, which is not linked to FB in any way. When I tried to click on what apeared to be the link to my own account my antivirus blocked it and I realized it was a fake.

[kenberg]

I am starting to raise my caution level another notch. I have a recommendation: Whenever you send an e-mail, give a little thought to the subject line. I don't open everything I get, and it is possible that caution (or just time constraints) could keep me from getting something that I actually want.

 

A couple of easy examples:

 

Subj line, from a name I did not recognize: "I want to see you in Charlotte"

I opened this but almost did not. Someone from some Democratic organization wants me to do something for Obama in Charlotte. No I am not doing it, but I cam close to not reading it.

 

Subj line, again from someone I don't know: "Check this."

I didn't check it.

 

Now for one I almost missed: It was a while back but the subj line said something like: "Postdoc".

I did not recognize the name of the sender.

I am a retired college prof, so it's a bit late in life to be contemplating a post doc.

I opened it, but almost didn't. It was a request for a recommendation for a postdoc for someone else.

 

Here is one I screwed up:

I got a request to LinkIn with someone from BBO. OK, why not, I clicked OK. LinkedIn complained that I was using my personal account while my LinkedIn account was through my University e-mail. I tried to straighten this out. Somehow, inadvertently and very much not my intent, I must have given LinkedIn permission to invite people to LinkIn with me. I "invited" people whom I have seen for years and and happily out of touch with. I invited people who I am on good terms with but whom I know are no more likely to agree to LinkIn than they would be to do something for Obama in Charlotte. It was harmless but embarrassing. I have since LinkedOut.

 

 

I try not to go off the deep end with all this but this getting in contact stuff is getting to me more than my worry about viruses. Recently I was driving along the shoreline of Mille Lac lake in Minnesota and I realized that a. No one had any idea where I was, and, b. These days this is pretty unusual. Maybe someone was monitoring my cellphone. Nah, that thinking is paranoid, right?

 

Anyway, if someone wants me to read their e-mail message to me it would be a really good idea if they said "request for a recommendation for a postdoc" instead of "postdoc" in the subject line. There are obvious variants on this.

[gwnn]

The other side of the coin, unaddressed by most, is that it is good practice to skim through your spam box every week or so. Just as useless emails can get in your inbox, so can useful ones get in your smap folder.

[mwalimu02]

thanks for the heads up!