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By Dan Albrich (dalbrich@oregon.uoregon.edu)
In recent weeks, Microcomputer Services consultants have been seeing quite a few instances of a new Windows virus called PrettyPark.Worm.
PrettyPark.Worm was originally spread by email from a French email address. Once the virus program is executed, it tries to mail itself automatically to all the email addresses registered in your email address book. In addition, it tries to connect to an IRC server and join a specific IRC channel to obtain system information, ICQ identification numbers and nicknames, and your email address and Dial Up Networking name and password.
If you want to know more about this virus, including repair and prevention information, see Symantec's AntiVirus Research Center page at http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/prettypark.worm.html
You can also get help by contacting Microcomputer Services in Computing Center Room 202 (microhelp@oregon, 346-4412). The office is open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.
Be forewarned that virus issues can be extremely difficult to deal with. The most common fix is for Windows 95/98 only. If you have a Windows NT machine, or an infection that's not easily resolved, troubleshooting can take quite a long time. The charge for checking in your machine for an extensive repair is $60/hour.
Practice Safe Computing. For continuous protection, always run Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect and use LiveUpdate to make sure you have the latest virus definitions. Be suspicious of executable file attachments (for example, .exe, .shs, MS Word, or MS Excel files), especially ones from newsgroups or unknown sources.