Important Virus warning

[Emma-J]

A friend has just sent this to me and I thought, as a kind gesture, I would let all of you lovely people on here have a look coz it's pretty serious.

Important Virus Warning
You should be alert during the next few days:

Do not open any message with an attached filed called "Invitation" regardless of who sent it .

It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" (wipes forever) the whole contents of your hard disc C: on your computer.

This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts.

It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it and lose the contents of your hard drive.

If you receive a mail called "invitation", though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut down your computer immediately.

CNN have announed today that this is officially the worst virus for the past 10 years, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.

This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair for this kind of virus - it effectively formats your hard drive.

This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information concerning where all the files on your hard drive are stored.

SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS AND REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, THEY WILL THANK YOU.

[CheekyChops]

This is a hoax. See HERE or just google 'Olympic Torch Virus' and you will see.

[vehelpfulguy]

I wish people would check the facts before sending panic warnings like this about viruses.

There are lots of web site that give official warnings about viruses, so there is no need to add to the panic if you are not sure.

Before sending notes out like this CHECK THE WEB to make sure it is not a hoax.

I remember a few years ago a hoax note came round the company I work for saying a certain file on your PC was a virus and to delete it.

A lot of people in the company did delete it, but it turned out to be an important Windows file and caused all sorts of problems.

It took ages to get eveyones machines working again.

So if you are not sure, check with the web, and if you are still not sure DONT PASS ON THE NOTE.

[Space]

This happened to me plenty of times in the past, and I can assure you this:
If a message says "send this message to everyone you know", then it's almost certain to be complete ********.
Please remember this, Emma.

[OBonio]

Any email that says for you to send it on to all your friends is always very dubious.

The bit about it destroying the first sector of the HDD sounds exactly like the Chernobyl virus which is 8 years old or so.

Emma-J, please check a reliable source like here :

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/global/vinfodb.html

Maybe you should forward this link to all your friends ;o)

[Postdog]

I have a simple rule. I check it on the web first, and if I do download a mail by accident I am not sure the origin of, I delete it unopened, especially if it has attachments.

[Emma-J]

Thanks everyone, I did not know this was a hoax! It's ok having a go at me, but I didn't know, my email came from a reliable source, so I had no reason to doubt it.

I will check in future.

[OBonio]

Don't worry. We know you posted with the best intentions :o)

You aren't the first and you won't be the last to be had by these types of hoaxes.