NEW YORK

Good alert, as always. Sometimes I am asked how someone could open up a destructive payload like that when all they thought they were opening was a text file? The answer is in the way some of these attachments are named. They exploit a setting we often ignore on our desktops "Hide Extensions for Known File Types" which is enabled by default. The author of the virus names their file "financials.txt.vbs". All the user "sees" is financials.txt--a seemingly innocent file. Instead, they are executing a destructive script or destructive code. It's one of the older ways to trick users into opening attachments, but it is still effective.You can uncheck this option by accessing "Folder Options" from Control Panel. The attached screenshot shows this setting and how I suggest users leave this setting--unchecked. That doesn't discount avoiding attachments from unknown sources in the first place, but it does help you better catch the tricks that have even duped CEO's and Network Admins into opening and executing these payloads.-Johnhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/140634.jpg

Hopefully, Vista will have that as default.

not likely, microsoft thinks all their users are stupid. I love the message when you open up the windows folder in XP for the first timeand the only people who spread these viruses around are the geniuses who open up attachments from unknown senders and have no anti virus software

"and the only people who spread these viruses around are the geniuses who open up attachments from unknown senders and have no anti virus software"Sorry to say that may be the same genius who gives you a heart transplant, or the nurse who can give you morphine when the pain from your cancer gets unbearable, or the financial advisor who saves your home from bankruptcy when you've found yourself hit with tens of thousands of dollars in medical costs your insurance won't cover.People are human, and the smartest among us can fall prey to some very cleverly worded messages. Add to that, no anti-virus software is foolproof. And last, the most likely victims are those who are simply too inexperienced to understand what to do, such as the elderly. If some punk brutalized your Grandma, would you blame her because she wasn't skilled in the martial arts?So I suggest you save your venom for the people writing this junk that is saturating our bandwidth with malware, spyware and malicious payloads like this one. -John

its not my venom. I work with some of the smartest people, in their fields. but when it comes to computers, they barely know how to turn one on. martial arts and computers are different

"martial arts and computers are different"Wax On, Wax Off :)

Is this threat for real?

>Is this threat for real?If you don't believe the link I left from FoxNews, here's another from CNN:http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/01/3...worm/index.html

Anyone get hit?JimCYWG