Virus warning (includes tips for protecting from macro viruses)

[Knuth, Pat CARL knuthp]

>This may be a dumb question, but why would you want to use MS word (or
>any word processor, for that matter) as the email viewer?  I have
>evaluated several email programs, and I don't recall any of them having a
>"bad" viewer.  At least, not bad enough to justify making it view the
>email with a word processor...

You would use MSWord for the MSWord attachments to the e-mail message. 
 Since MSOffice is the standard for our organization, people  got to the 
point where they would do a half page message in MSWord and attach it to an 
e-mail message,(so it took much longer to open MSWord than it did to read 
the message).

>Also, since I don't have MS word (nor do I care too), doesn't a macro
>have to be executed?  If so, isn't it true that reading an infected
>message in MS word would not cause any harm to your computer?  Or does MS
>word have some sort of auto-execute feature?  If they don't auto-execute,
>then it is still true that the simple act of reading a message will not
>cause harm to your computer, no matter what virus is contained in the
>message. Right?

You're right, reading the e-mail message won't harm your computer.


>Ronnie Morgan
>Team OS/2
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
>Harding University Library        Internet : rmorgan at harding.edu
>Systems Manager                   Phone : (501) 279-4077 (voice) 

 >Box 2267, Searcy, AR  72149       PGP Key available upon request


 MSWord macro viruses are getting nastier and I understand there's a version 
of WAZZU ( also called Meatgrinder) that does damage to the hard drive, 
though I'm not sure if it destroys data or physically damages the hard 
drive.

I've included part of a message from our information management people  with 
tips for protecting your PC from the macro viruses.  I didn't include the 
section about anti-virus programs,  but we have site licenses for McAfee and 
IBM anti-virus.

Pat Knuth
System's Librarian,
Combined Arms Research Library
Ft. Leavenworth, KS 66027
knuthp at leav-emh1.army.mil

COMBATING CONCEPT AND WAZZU MACRO VIRUSES
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Tips

On ALL installed copies of MS Word (local hard drive or file server)
make the "Normal.dot" file Read Only. Ensure the Normal.dot file is
clean from concept and wazzu viruses prior to changing its attributes to
read only. This procedure should stop the files being infected when
creating and saving word files.

Load the MS Word and PowerPoint viewers on the individual PCs. Link
these viewers to MS Mail so they will open up any Microsoft Word
attachments. These viewers do not use the template and macro files from
MS Word. Therefore when an individual recevies an Mail attachment, they
can use the viewers to see the document and not be infected by a file
with a macro virus.



T