I apologize for the lack of hockey content, but figured this would be of
crucial import to anyone on Hockey-L.
 
(Perhaps if this virus struck your computer, it would be worse than the
HockeyFest measles outbreak a few years back.)
 
"There is a new computer virus that is being sent across
the Internet.  If you receive an email message with the
subject line "Good Times," DO NOT read the message.
DELETE it immediately.  Please read the messages
below.
 
Some miscreant is sending email under the title "good
times" nation-wide.  If you get anything like this, DON'T
DOWNLOAD THE FILE!  It has a virus that rewrites
your hard drive, obliterating anything on it.  Please be
careful and forward this mail to anyone you care about.
 
Thought you might like to know...
 
The FCC released a warning last Wednesday concerning
a matter of major importance to any regular user of the
Internet.  Apparently, a new computer virus has been
engineered by a user of America Online that is unparalled
in its destructive capability.  Other, more well-known
viruses such as Stoned, Airwolf, and Michaelangelo pale
in comparison to the prospects of this newest creation by
a warped mentality.
 
What makes this virus so terrifying, said the FCC, is the
fact that no program needs to be exchanged for a new
computer to be infected.  It can be spread through the
existing e-mail systems of the InterNet. Once a computer
is infected, one of several things can happen.  If the
computer contains a hard drive, that will most likely be
destroyed.  If the program is not stopped, the computer's
processor will be placed in an nth-complexity infinite
binary loop, which can severely damage the processor if
left running that way too long.  Unfortunately, most novice
computer users will not realize what is happening until it is
far too late.
 
Luckily, there is one sure means of detecting what is now
known as the "Good Times" virus.  It always travels to
new computers the same way in a test e-mail message
with the subject line reading simply "Good Times."
 
Avoiding infection is easy once the file has been received
- not reading it.
The act of loading the file into the mail server's ASCII
buffer causes the "Good Times" mainline program to
initialize and execute.  The program is highly intelligent - it
will send copies of itself to everyone whose e-mail
address is contained in a received-mail file or a sent-mail
file, if it can find one.  It will then trash the computer it is
running on.
 
The bottom line here is - if you receive a file with the
subject line "Good Times," delete it immediately!  Do not
read it!  Rest assured that whoever's name was on the
"From:" line was surely struck by the virus.
 
Warn your friends and local system users of this newest
threat to the InterNet!  It could save them a lot of time
and money."
 
Please pass this on...especially to anyone you know that
uses "America Online" regularly.
 
 
 
 
--Mike J.
 
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"I think I'm a senior citizen in disguise. Even my grandparents are
probably more active than me."
 
          --Tara Weiscarger (Princeton '94)
 
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