Categories: just-life
Date: 21 January 2008 15:12:46
I received an email this afternoon from a friend and my first response to opening it, before I had even scrolled down through all the past FW:'s was to delete it. For a very, very simple reason.
It's a modern day chain letter.
The way these newer ones work is to, as opposed to the old ones where you would die within one day/two days/a week of not sending several copies on, is to suggest that if you don't warn everyone on your address list you are a terrible friend. Because if you don't warn them and they end up with this deadly computer virus, of which there is no cure, well, it's your fault.
After all, "it's better to receive this 100 times than lose everything at once!!!!!!"
This particular email goes on to warn:
Please Be Extremely Careful especially if using internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on.
This information arrived this morning direct from both Microsoft and Norton.
Please send it to everybody you know who has access to the Internet.
You may receive an apparently harmless email with a Power Point presentation
'Life is beautiful.'
If you receive it DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, and delete it immediately.
If you open this file, a message will appear on your screen saying:
'It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful.'
Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC and the person who sent it to you will gain access to your name, e-mail and password.
This is a new virus which started to circulate on Saturday afternoon. AOL has already confirmed the severity, and the antivirus softwares are not capable of destroying it. The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself 'life owner.'
PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS EMAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS and ask them to PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY
RATHER GET THIS 100 TIMES THAN LOSE EVERYTHING AT ONCE!!!!!!
On the off chance I googled "life is beautiful virus" and guess what. Not only is it a hoax (shock horror) but it even has it's own wiki page!!
So from hence forth I wish not to be sent any warnings about anything. Nor do I believe that microsoft/AOL are testing some sort of email tracking system and that if I forward an email I'll get $5 for each one I send. If some poor child in Afric/Asia/Eastern Europe/South America is in desperate need of a kidney/school/home I WILL NOT believe you if you tell me that a company has promised to pay however much for each name on a petition.
And no, I'd rather not get this a hundred times.