Your PC needs shots!

Mythili Rajkumar

YOU breeze into the office, switch on your PC humming and then settle down in happy anticipation to a pleasant part of your routine - checking the morning mail. But wham, blast, this is where things go wrong.

You get frantic calls from people about mail you've not sent them. You realise there's a virus on the prowl, playing with your files and worse sending out messages in your name. You clutch at your head. ``My God, what have I stored and what's doing the rounds? Worse, what's the monster up to, automatically generating mail in my name?'' The expert is called in and anti-virus packages run.

But like the after-effects of a heavy dose of antibiotics, the trail of destruction lingers ... you have to be on your guard for a couple of days and also warn people who receive mail from you, you're told.

``Sure, I've been through all this, because the Sircam virus just hit me'', you say. But before you start wondering where you begin reading up on viruses and what they can do, just log into www.vmyths.com.

It's worth the effort because it deals not with viruses so much as myths, hoaxes and urban legends relating to them. It comes up with the word ``hystericane'' a contraction of hysteria and hurricane, to warn you against overreacting. There are exhaustive links, FAQs, humorous anecdotes, real-life encounters, search facility, tips to backtrack a hoaxster, just about anything you might want, and each exploration takes you on an extremely absorbing tour -- don't miss it, every minute spent on it is instructive, be it about real or imagined viruses.

On the Sircam scare, the site says ``Readers' input to our `HoaxFYI' service indicates an accelerating growth in Sircam worm/virus chain-letter alerts. These chain letters have taken on numerous forms .... because clueless people keep writing clueless alerts.'' The site points out that ``many of these e-mails (incorrectly) warn of specific subject lines or attachment filenames. Ironically, only a few Sircam chain letters urged people to update their anti-virus software. The overwhelming majority told users to search for it with their own eyeballs.''

It makes a very valid point on the Sircam scare. Remember, it says, virus alerts must come from a responsible authority, and urges you to talk to your corporate security expert or visit your anti-virus vendor's Web site. And if you've been receiving chain-letter alerts, it invites you to forward them to HoaxFYI@Vmyths.com.

The site is a veritable mine of information on viruses, hoaxes and the onset of a virus hysteria.

And, if you are still sceptical -- can't trust anybody in these days and times -- the site is not sponsored by anti-virus companies and refuses anti-virus ads to maintain its independence. That's not all. It has a friendly but not patronising tone and you are warned against taking anything, even what the site says, on face value.

Read on to know what the ``False Authority Syndrome'' is all about, learn to identify the know-all guy who is probably more ignorant than you, and have fun guessing the meaning of terms such as `ultracrepidarian.'

And for a sample of the extremely enjoyable humour the site is laced with, refer to what it says about Ross Greenberg, who earned international fame as one of the pioneers in IBM PC anti-virus software. Greenberg, who continues to lecture on viruses, offers a simple analysis of how he made his fortune -- ``I'd still be slaving away at a desk for another 25 years if people backed up (their computer data) and kept a cool head.''

Please e-mail us at eworld@thehindu.co.in if you have queries on computer usage or if you find an interesting way of using the computer.