Subject: Virus From: Al Bregman <bregman(at)HEBB.PSYCH.MCGILL.CA> Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 23:24:02 -0500Dear colleagues, If any of you received a Merry Christmas message from me recently, it was sent by a virus that infected my computer, and the attachment contains a virus. I am very sorry for my (inadvertent) role in spreading it to your computers. I had tested the offending e-mail attachment with Norton Antivirus (NAV), but my virus definitions were a week old, and NAV failed to detect the virus. [Moral: keep your virus definitions up to date.] The name of the virus is w32.Erkez.D"at"mm (where the "at" refers to the (at) sign). It sends itself out to people in your Address Book. As far as I know, it doesn't attack Macintoshes. If your PC computer was infected, it's a royal pain to remove it, because it puts itself in many places on your disk(s) and in the Windows registry. Fortunately, Symantec, the seller of Norton Antivirus, has created a "removal tool" (a program that removes the virus from your system). It can be found at the following internet address maintained by Symantec: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.erkez(at)mm.removal.tool.html Click on "To fix this problem, get the removal tool." This takes you to a page that allows you to download the tool and use it. It is desirable to click the "print document" icon that is near the top of the page, and print out the page, because later on you will be advised to disconnect your internet connection and you will still need the instructions. Most people can ignore the section "Available command-line switches for this tool". Go to where it says: "Download the FxErkez.exe file from: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/FxErkez.exe " and then download the program. Then just follow the instructions. Al --------------------------------------------- Albert S. Bregman, Emeritus Professor Psychology Dept., McGill University 1205 Docteur Penfield Avenue Montreal, Quebec Canada H3A 1B1 Office: Voice: +1 (514) 398-6103 Fax: +1 (514) 398-4896 ---------------------------------------------