**Edited** 10/21/06

Deleted the post, as it turned out to be nothing.

[This message has been edited by CoolBlue87GT (edited 09-21-2006).]

I've been told it's a scam.

Seems to be a scam:

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/o/osama.htm

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/osama.asp

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/virushoaxes1/

http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hoaxes/hoaxDetails.asp?HName=Osama+Bin+Laden+Virus+Warning+Hoax

Don't expect to get accurate information in forwarded emails... geez people.

Once again... Bill Gates isn't giving you money for forwarding emails, you haven't won that international lottery you don't remember entering, the kid recovered from cancer and doesn't want anymore postcards, no one is going to shoot you for flashing your highbeams, and opening a forwarded email warning about a virus is way more likely to get you a virus (or at least added to a million spam lists when you forward it) than anything it claims is going around.

quote Originally posted by Scott-Wa: Don't expect to get accurate information in forwarded emails... geez people.....

Scott-Wa, "geez ?" My aunt forwarded that message to me, she is 84 years old. She thought she was helping me.

Thank you.

quote Originally posted by Scott-Wa: Don't expect to get accurate information in forwarded emails... geez people. Once again... Bill Gates isn't giving you money for forwarding emails...,

( <----- saddened knowing now that all his hopes and dreams have been dashed )

Viruses -- ha!

one word: Linux

Got one from my old email provider, had some issues getting email last night from them thought it was just their server down... AVG blocked some attachment called "Update-KB5830-x86.exe" but when I Googled it (Real Googling, not 'violation of copyright' Googling) nothing came up. the body of the e-mail was this:
Mail server report.

Our firewall determined the e-mails containing worm copies are being sent from your computer.

Nowadays it happens from many computers, because this is a new virus type (Network Worms).


Using the new bug in the Windows, these viruses infect the computer unnoticeably. After the penetrating into the computer the virus harvests all the e-mail addresses and sends the copies of itself to these e-mail addresses

Please install updates for worm elimination and your computer restoring.

Best regards,
Customers support service

My anti-virus hasn't turned up anything.

quote Originally posted by tutnkmn: Viruses -- ha! one word: Linux

ya ya - but I like to use my computer.......
and, just for that - I will start developing a Linux Virus, and modify it for Mac's
the Linux one should be SUPER simple, being Linux is open source - tho with all the different kernels out there.....hmmm
heck, maybe MS will even pay me for it

quote Originally posted by Pyrthian: just for that - I will start developing a Linux Virus

Yeah, good luck with that. My root password is ./

There is something going around that is wiping out FAT on hard disks. Simply put the drive becomes inaccessable and the format can not be recognised.

I believe something is afoot.

I've replaced quite a few drives that have suddenly failed in recent months. It happened to my mothers computer a few weeks ago and one of my secondary drives went a few days ago. They can easily be reformatted and all tests indicate the drive is healthy... Very strange....

quote Originally posted by tutnkmn: Yeah, good luck with that. My root password is ./

Microsoft announced it has created a hotfix that patches a bug in one of the dozen August security updates which could corrupt users' data. Customers must contact Microsoft to get the hotfix.

The MS06-049 update, which was released Aug. 8 to correct a flaw in the Windows 2000 kernel, can ruin data on NTFS formatted drives when the PC is using Windows' own file compression. Files larger than 4K that are either created or back up can be corrupted, and become unreadable.

Microsoft issued a hotfix, but has not made it available to the general public. Instead, as is its practice with hotfixes, Microsoft requires users who want the patch to call the company.

It also downplayed the severity of the issue and suggested a workaround. "Since MS06-049 addressed a security issue on Windows 2000 only, no other platforms are affected by the NTFS compression issue," said Adrian Stone, a program manager at the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), in a blog entry. "In the short term you can disable NTFS compression and the data integrity will not be affected and your system will still remain protected from the vulnerability," Stone wrote late Friday. An update to MS06-049 is in progress, Stone added, and will be released as soon as it's ready. It would be the third of the 12 August updates to be revised; MS06-040 and MS06-042 have been reissued already, with the latter being posted three different times to fix flaws Internet Explorer.

Microsoft detailed the data corruption problem in this support document.

quote Originally posted by 84Bill: There is something going around that is wiping out FAT on hard disks. Simply put the drive becomes inaccessable and the format can not be recognised. I believe something is afoot. I've replaced quite a few drives that have suddenly failed in recent months. It happened to my mothers computer a few weeks ago and one of my secondary drives went a few days ago. They can easily be reformatted and all tests indicate the drive is healthy... Very strange....

Perhaps they were Maxtor drives?
I've had a lot of them fail that way. It's not a virus, the drives just sucked.

quote Originally posted by tutnkmn: Viruses -- ha! one word: Linux

Xandros = no wifi card.

quote Originally posted by Jax184: Perhaps they were Maxtor drives? I've had a lot of them fail that way. It's not a virus, the drives just sucked.

You too eh? I thought maybe I killed em. My brother and I both got 250 GB maxtor drives at the same time. The both crashed at the same time, then recovered, but only at about half their listed capacity. Then they both crashed again at the same time. Never to recover again. The way we found out was when all our files started getting corrupted. I had internet access, he did not. The drives just lost huge sectors of space.

I had previously though Maxtor was actually a good brand.

They were, about 4-5 years ago. The old 40 gigs from 4 years ago are tanks.
But when they introduced those extra slim budget drives, and the diamondmax +9 series, everything went downhill.
Seagate's pretty well the most reliable at the moment.

[This message has been edited by Jax184 (edited 09-20-2006).]

quote Originally posted by CoolBlue87GT: Scott-Wa, "geez ?" My aunt forwarded that message to me, she is 84 years old. She thought she was helping me. Thank you.

But, in turn, you forwarded it on to us.

I get forwards, too, but I don't pass them on. (And I usually give the senders flack for passing them on to me in the first place--it works, too, as I get maybe two forwards a month from friends instead of 8 a day like I used to.)

quote Originally posted by SonataInFSharp: But, in turn, you forwarded it on to us.....

I did so, as I thought I was helping friends. Excuse me for trying to help others.

As far as I'm concerned, this thread is done.