Read some posts on Outlook vs others. Here some food for thought. Picked this one from LinuxWord (AU). Linux goes Unloved By Gavin Sherry The "I LOVE YOU" virus has hit Microsoft Outlook users around the world with anything but love. Once opened as a Visual Basic Script attachment by an Outlook mail client, the virus is executed on the local machine. It affects image and music files, such as JPEGs and MP3s, and also tries to download malicious software from around the Internet, to allow crackers to enter affected systems. At the same time, the virus mails itself to all addresses in the Outlook address book. Outlook Express does not run under Linux. Linux e-mail clients, in fact, do not and cannot execute Visual Basic Scripts. "In no way, shape or form is Linux affected by this virus," said Andrew Polowczyk, System Technician Pacific Internet. The popular mail clients which run under Linux - Pine, Mutt, Elm, the Netscape and Mozilla mail clients - can be made to execute attachments but this does not occur by default. So far, Linux software developers have kept ideas like this in mind, so that they can pre-empt malicious intent, such as "I LOVE YOU." Gordon Hubbard, the Asia Pacific Regional Manager of Caldera Systems, stresses this: "Linux users can breathe easy, comfortable that they are not affected by this e-mail virus." Linux is often applied, however, only as a server. "The Linux mail servers are not affected," says Anthony Rumble of LinuxHelp.com.au, "but the people using those mail servers may be using Outlook, and they can be affected." This is where Linux comes to the rescue. LinuxHelp recommends Anti Viral Pro (AVP) be set up on all Linux mail servers it builds for clients. This software, incorporated with some scripts from Rumble, scans incoming e-mail for viruses. If a virus is found, the email is rejected. '"I LOVE YOU" was identified within three hours of it hitting the Net," says Rumble. All servers running AVP were updated, and the users remained unaffected. The fix provided by Microsoft forces users to save mail attachments to their hard drive, where it is scanned for viruses - a solution much more tedious than that of AVP. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/ To subscribe / unsubscribe goto the site www.ilug-bom.org ., click on the mailing list button and fill the appropriate information and submit. For any other queries contact the ML maintener
