Heidi Anderson wrote:
>
> I'm curious.  Why can't this thing work?
>
> Heidi Anderson
> [log in to unmask]
>
> On Tue, 20 Feb 1996, David Harvey wrote:
>
> > I would like to remind all of my colleagues that the "GOOD TIMES" virus was
> > actually a bad sitcom from the 1970's!  ;-)
> >
> > To the sender:  Thank you for your concern.  But this message is an old
urban
> > legend, a hoax which seems to hit this list every few months.  It is like a
> > perverse chain letter which relies on well-meaning people to forward it
> > along. I am sure that others can explain the technical reasons why this
> > supposed e-mail virus can't possibly work; ask if you are curious.
> >
> > Dave
> >
> >
> > David Harvey
> > Conservator of Metals & Arms
> > Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
> > P.O. Box 1776
> > Williamsburg Foundation
> > P.O. Box 1776
> > Williamsburg, VA  23187-1776   USA
> > voice:     804-220-7039
> > e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> >

I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that the Good Times Virus is indeed a hoax, and a classic
urban folk tale. The reason that it can't work is that traditional text based
e-mail is not executed. It is passive data. In addition, malicious program
logic is CPU dependent (ie.  Macintosh viruses don't work on DOS machines or
UNIX machines. etc. Windows 95 was immune to DOS viruses and had none of its
own until quite recently...) In order for a virus to work, it must be
executed as a program...

Ok. Now for the bad news. Several 'viruses' have been identified in the
templates of Microsoft Word documents. These templates contain an automatic
macro block used to invoke Visual Basic macros when the document is
opened in word. Once your standard template is infected any MS-Word document
you create will contain this virus and is capable of passing it along.

Microsoft has made available add-ins to word to defeat these macros and
clean the template. McAfee has also developed a means of defeating them in
their commercial virus scanning software.

The only way to avoid this Word Viruses is not to open someones attached word
document with checking it's template for infection first...

--
Andrew J. L. Cary                     | I Reckon that the Opinions
Senior Curmudgeon                     | expressed here DO represent
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