is this for real???????

[Bill Ford]

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ADDRESS BOOK:
>
> I received it from a friend who's a computer geek.
> As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer it heads
> straight for your e-mail address book, and sends itself to everyone in
> there, thus infecting all your friends and associates. This trick won't
>keep
> the
> virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from using
>your
> address book to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact, that
>the
> worm has gotten into your system.
>
> Here's what you do; first, open your address book and click on "new
> contact", just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your
>list
> of e-mail addresses.
>
> In the window where you would type your friend's first name, type in
> AAAAAAA, Also use address AAAAAAA@a.aaa
>
> Now, Here's what you've done and why it works: The name AAAAAAA will be
> placed at the top of your address book as entry #1. This will be where
>the
> worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends. But,
>when
> it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA, it will be undeliverable because of
>the
> phony e-mail address you entered.
>
> If the first attempt fails (which it will because of the phony address),
>the
> worm goes no further and your friends will not be infected.
>
> Here's the second great advantage of this method: If an e-mail cannot be
> delivered, you will be notified of this in your IN BOX almost
>immediately.
> Hence, if you ever get an e-mail telling you that an e-mail addressed to
> AAAAAAA could not be delivered, you know right away that you have the
>worm
> virus in your system. You can then take steps to get rid of it! Pretty
> slick, huh?
>
> If everybody you know does this then you need not ever worry about
>opening
> mail from friends. Pass this on to all your friends.


Is this for real,or a joke?
Bill
>
>


------------------
Bill Ford

[Doug Brumley]

It's a hoax.
http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=description&virus_k=99213

[Bobby Lee]

The worm would only give up if it was programmed to give up. Most worm authors would never write code that terminates their own program. That would defeat the purpose.

The assumption that worms go through the address book in alphabetical order is also false. The address book is presented to the user (you) in alphabetical order, but it's not stored that way.

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<font size="1"><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
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[Bill Ford]

Thanks guys,I thought it was a joke, if it sounds too good to be true,most of the time it is......
Bill

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Bill Ford