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© Copyright 2002, Jim Loy
Norton has protected me from this worm, more or less. Nevertheless, it has been something of a bother. I thought my computer was infected, as Norton AntiVirus detected the virus and said it could not remove it. After an hour or so of work, I found that Norton had detected it in my trash bin. I emptied the trash, and the virus has not been seen since. But I still receive email almost every day which apparently contains the virus, but my computer has apparently not been reinfected. Email with this virus varies greatly in textual content and subject, so it is hard to describe what it does. But it seems to be the most common virus ever.
I have also received several email messages offering to protect my computer from this virus. It implies that somebody has invented a tool for removing the virus, and they are spreading their solution by chain email. That would be a bother, but the Norton folks say that this message is false and that it contains the virus (or the W32.Elkern virus). Also a few of the infected messages have been huge, which has tied up my computer for long periods of time while receiving them and deleting them.
And finally, this virus may send email in your name and email address, without ever being on your computer. I have received several notices that I have been sending the virus, when I know that my computer has been clean. The folks at Norton (see their Security Response section) inform us that that is a feature of the virus, it takes your name and address from someone else's computer, and pretends to send itself from you to other people. So, it does little good to warn the people that you got it from, as you probably did not get it from them. Clever.
Above, I have used the words "worm" and "virus" interchangeably. This one is a worm, which is a kind of virus, but not exactly a true virus.