In computer news this week, 05/28/2002

The newest internet hoax - fake viruses scares

The latest virus threats on the internet are the recent wave of emails from someone you may know telling you that you have a file on your computer which was placed there by a virus and you need to delete it from your computer before it does damage. Usually any email like this recently is a hoax, and deleting the file mentioned may do serious damage to your computer - maybe even more than a virus may do.

Here's 2 recent examples of these emails. The most recent one has you look for a file named jdbgmgr.exe If you right click on Start - find - files or folders - and type in this filename - it should show up very quickly - and you will see it does have a very strange looking icon - a bear - but don't delete it.

If you look just a little further, you would see it is in your Windows\System folder, which means it might be a critical windows file. Then if you right click your mouse on this filename, and then click on properties - you will see the properties for this file, all which look normal, and under the version tab you will see that this is the Microsoft debugger registrar for Java, and a lot more information on this legitimate windows file. If you use windows explorer to open this folder, and arrange the files by date, you will see this file has the same date and time as most of the other critical windows files in this folder, which means it probably came with your computer, as part of windows.

Another hoax from months ago mentioned a file name sulfnbk.exe which is a legitimate windows file that manages long file names. This file had an even weirder looking icon.

These hoaxes prey on people's computer illiteracy. New computers today can come with 40,000 or more files on them out of the box. How can you keep track of what's a valid file and what's not? This is a real problem, because even if you go to windows help and try to look up these 2 filenames I've mentioned, you won't find any information on them. You have to go online to the Microsoft site and search for them, and then you will see information on what they are, how to restore them if you already deleted them, and information explaining that these files are involved in virus hoaxes.

And if you think strange icons mean a virus, you'll find dozens of files on your computer with weird icons - all legitimate files.

Maybe somewhere in the labyrinth of Microsoft, way down in the inner circles, even past the circle that holds the people that came up with the BOB operating system, there's a Vice-president in charge of weird icons; just a weird guy in a lonely office on the East side of the Microsoft campus which doesn't face the ocean, and maybe his job is to search the weirdest sites on the web, find the weirdest pictures of things, and use them as icons for some of Window's most arcane files. And if they make no sense at all, and have not an iota of relevance to the file or even to computers, his face lights up in a demonic smile and he assigns them to the newest most ambiguous windows files they invent.

So you receive an email telling you to search for and delete a file on your computer - don't do it. Search for virus hoax pages, or go to the Microsoft page for help, and you might even email the person back and make them aware that they're crying wolf.

There are thousands of real viruses out there which you need to protect yourself from, and virus hoaxes are becoming another part of the problem.

For Raw Bytes, This is Frank Delaney

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