Foil the Computer Viruses

We’ve all heard of sneaky computer viruses that head right for your email address book and then send themselves out to all your buddies and associates.

Here’s a sneaky way to foil them. It won’t stop a virus from getting into your computer; for that you need anti-virus software, available from McAffee or Norton for under $50, but it will stop it from going out on your email list.

• * Open your email address book and click on “New Contact” as if you were adding someone to your list.

• * Instead of typing in a name, type in !000 – an exclamation point and three zeros.

• * In the window below, where it asks for an email address, type “WormAlert,” which isn’t, of course, a real email address.

• * If you’re using Outlook Express, a message will pop up saying, “The email address you have entered is not a valid Internet email address. Do you still want to add this address?” Click on “Yes,” then complete the process by clicking: “Add” “Save” “Enter,” etc.

It works because the worm will go to the beginning of your addressbook in its effort to send itself out to your list. Since it’s a bogus address, the worm will be stopped right there.

In addition, you will be notified that the attempt to deliver has failed, alerting you to the virus in your computer. You can then take steps to get rid of it quickly.

The only downside is that you cannot send a message to everyone on your address list with one click. I’ve never done that, have you?