With the government on such shakey ground, could this Malisa Virus be govt generated so that they can blame this virus for not meeting March 31st deadlines? Perhaps the virus is part of an evil Serbian hackers plot? Perhaps the whole y2k debacle could be blamed on these evil hackers.

Hardliner is right. I did start every day as a kid believing every word of the "Pledge of Allegiance" Boy was I a sucker. The trouble is I don't believe the Republicans any more than I do the Democrats. I am damn mad about what is being done in Serbia but not mad enough to do anything about it so I guess I should just shut up.

Bill in South Carolina

-- Bill Solorzano (notaclue@webtv.net), March 29, 1999

Answers

Hi Bill. I wonder how many "unknown virus" hacks are out there with a trigger date of 1/1, just to throw another monkey wrench into the works, and make the day even more interesting? <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 30, 1999.

The last computer virus I heard about before 'Melissa' was 'Remote Explorer.' It was noticed a few days before Jan. 1, 1999.

-- (better@not.say), March 30, 1999.

Once again, the hackers are so generous as to leave the source code.

My guess: you're in Y2K court, trying to prove you didn't blow up due to date errors.

Can an attorney tease out a virus from date errors?

This may be the strawman for defense attorneys and corporate stop- loss people, who may put the burden of proof on the insurers to prove the downtime was Y2K-related.

Could also be used by Clinton, too.

-- Lisa (hmm@hmm.hmm), March 30, 1999.

Actually, I think that it is called a "worm". If there are any hackers out there that know the proper nomenclature, please correct.

Try this one on:

This is not a virus. It does not damage your computer. All that this thing does is:

1. Invade your email address file 2. Mail to everyone in your email address file 3. Get everyone in your email address file to repeat the process

Now, what if it also emails each address file to a central location, including a tag to denote address of origin? It could then use the file to build relationships between people. Compare that to all the names/address in this and other forums, and you would have a VERY comprehensive listing of everybody that is preparing for this crisis.

You would then know where the guns are, where the food is, where the water is, where the mountaineering equipment is, and where everybody is going to be.

Or am I just being paranoid...

-- Scott (duhelmet@aol.com), March 30, 1999.

You know, I had the same dark thoughts last night. First Melissa and today, "Poppa". It's a strange coincidence that there's international trouble and suddenly viruses start popping up. Maybe these are foriegn cyber-weapons. Of course, Melissa is a fairly mild virus. Sending e-mails isn't quite like telling your hard drives to perform a "full" format on themselves.

Then again, if you were going to send out a virus to shake up your country, not to do great harm but to use as an example of "cyber terrorism" in a plan to start restricting the rights of your population...

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), March 30, 1999.