I fully believe this v*rus is propagating via email addresses posted on
newsgroups by innocent posters who had their address 'harvested' by the
spambots.

I use Outlook Express, and if anybody is interested this is how to change
your email reply address:
In your mail window go to
Tools: Accounts: then click on 'news' tab
Fill in the boxes w/something that is NOT your email addy.

Some people put a fake one under "email address" and the real one under the
"reply to" address. The theory is that the email address harvesting bots
only harvest the "email address" and not the "reply to" address -- I have no
idea if this is accurate.
You also all have probably noticed some people spam-proof their email by
inserting junk words in the middle, like or
something like that (I don't have yahoo, just an example).

You can also create a signature in your messages that get posted that give
your email address out in a different format that the bots may not pick up,
ie, leeanne (at) realserviceprovider (dot) com

I'm not sure if the bots have learned that yet or not.

I have not gotten one of these 'swen' things and all the newsgroups I post
on have had issues w/this.
LeeAnne
--
------
If you're an insomniac, agnostic, dyslexic do you lay
awake at night wondering if there is a dog?
-----
www.hartzvictims.org
Stop Hartz from Killing Pets

Thanks LeeAnne,

It does appear that there is a direct relationship between posting to the
newsgroups and receiving the bogus "Microsoft" spam crap. Some dweeb geek
out there must really hate newsgroups.

We will see if changing the return address is the solution.

***************

Send an abandoned pet to homeless children.
They need the extra protein to go with their 30 cents a day meal!!


LeeAnne wrote in message
...
I fully believe this v*rus is propagating via email addresses posted on
newsgroups by innocent posters who had their address 'harvested' by the
spambots.

I use Outlook Express, and if anybody is interested this is how to change
your email reply address:
In your mail window go to
Tools: Accounts: then click on 'news' tab
Fill in the boxes w/something that is NOT your email addy.

Some people put a fake one under "email address" and the real one under
the
"reply to" address. The theory is that the email address harvesting bots
only harvest the "email address" and not the "reply to" address -- I have
no
idea if this is accurate.
You also all have probably noticed some people spam-proof their email by
inserting junk words in the middle, like or
something like that (I don't have yahoo, just an example).

You can also create a signature in your messages that get posted that give
your email address out in a different format that the bots may not pick
up,
ie, leeanne (at) realserviceprovider (dot) com

I'm not sure if the bots have learned that yet or not.

I have not gotten one of these 'swen' things and all the newsgroups I post
on have had issues w/this.
LeeAnne
--