At 09:36 PM 3/7/01 +0100, you wrote:
>But coming to the main point (the one I put in the Subject line, I
>mean), I believe we have found -- quite coincidentally -- an almost
>foolproof virus defense, namely, the fact that NO virus is likely to
>come to us with a valid prefix in the subject line.  This means the
>server places it automatically in the "OTHER" category, which
>currently ONLY list managers can receive.

Dennis, the kak viruses hide in the html code produced by users using an
infected outlook express client. It is basically a vb script that when
opened with the recipients outlook express client after receiving it, does
it's dirty work. The same posts opened with almost any other email client
will not be infected because they do not run scripts and probably just
display the ascii text rather than the html.

The May 2000 patch for 1.8d added a keyword option for the list header
called attachments. Servers using pre May 2000 version 1.8d do not have
this functional keyword.

My list is not the premeditated target of viruses but receives them from
subscribers having already infected their machines elsewhere. The
possibility of infection by the unawares is having a detrimental effect on
email lists and make it hard for a list owner to look at their error
messages because sites around the internet...quickly tell you which post
contains the virus.

I publish my list on the web but a percentage do not have web access.
Reading on the web has advantages and disadvantages.

Parkinsn is at:

http://parkinsons-information-exchange-network-online.com/maillist.html

John Cottingham
co-owner Parkinsn