[cibyl55]

My post appears to have vanished hope I'm not double posting but- I received the following this morning. Have no idea if it works as I don't use Outlook Express but would be interested in knowing
To avoid spreading e-mail borne computer viruses, create a new contact
in
> > your email address book with the name: !0000 with no email address in
the
> > details.
> >
> > To do this in Outlook Express, go to Start/Programs/Accessories/Address
> > Book. Once the Address Book is open, click the New pull-down toolbar
item,
> > and then click New Contact.... In the field that says First, type in
!0000
> > and then click OK.
> >
> > This contact will then show up as your first contact in the Address
Book.
> If
> > a virus attempts to do a "send all" on your contact list, you see an
error
> > message that says:
> >
> > The Message could not be sent. One or more recipients do not have an
> e-mail
> > address. Please check your Address Book and make sure all the recipients
> > have a valid e-mail address.
> >
> > If you click on OK, the offending infected message will not have been
sent
> > to anyone. The infected message will then be stored in either your
> "Drafts"
> > or "Outbox" folder. You may completely delete (in other words, not just
> send
> > it to Outlook's "Deleted Items" folder) the offending message from that
> > location by highlighting the message, hold down the Shift key and press
> > Delete, and then confirm. This way the virus is not spread and you have
> been
> > alerted so that you can apply whatever remedy the situation calls for.

[MacFromOK]

Sounds like a great idea to me. I think the same
principle should work on most email systems,
even if adding the dummy contact may require
slightly different procedures.

I'm gonna do it right now...

[MacFromOK]

OK, here's another thought:

You could also enter a second dummy
contact further down in the address book
in case a virus skips the first one while
trying to avoid this method of detection.

It might also be wise to avoid odd or
double characters in the second one.

Cheers, Mac