About six months ago, a virus scare made its way around the net, claiming
that an America Online member was distributing a virus called "Good Times" in
e-mail. This simply was not true. Unfortunately, someone has once again
started the rumor, which is again growing out of proportion. In the hopes
that we can put a quicker stop to this latest scare, I'm posting to these
lists. It's likely that at some point, some of your list members will come
across this scare and some of them will probably not realise how impossible
the situation outlined in the scare message is.
 
To help answer questions, I've prepared the following text. Please feel free
to use it or a modified form of it to answer any questions your list members
might have. If anyone has further questions about the "Good Times" virus
scare, please feel free to punt them my way.
 
Thanks for your time and assistance, everyone.
 
--
__ David B. O'Donnell ([log in to unmask], [log in to unmask])
\/ AOL Internet Feedback/Response/Information Team Manager
   Tel. +1 703/556-3725 - FAX  +1 703/883-1514 - "The spam stops here."
   Belief-L, GLB-News, SoftRevu List Owner/Editor
 
-----
A message has been making the rounds of the Internet, claiming that a virus
called "Good Times" is being distributed by an unnamed America Online member.
This virus, which is allegedly being transmitted in plaintext, has the
unbelievable ability to destroy hard drives, send CPUs into death knells and
propagate itself by co-opting mail systems.
 
This scare is similar to one which made the rounds of the Internet about six
months ago, also claiming that a virus called "Good Times" was being
distributed in e-mail. To the best of our knowledge, this simply is not
possible.
 
For the message now being distributed to be true, the viral code would have
to be in plaintext ASCII and somehow know how to:
 
(1) propagate itself by coopting dozens of different mail systems
(2) activate itself on a wide variety of computers (VM, VMS, *NIX, DOS,
Windows, Mac, et cetera)
(3) erase the file systems on this same variety of computers (Windows NT,
OS/2, Mac, *NIX, VMS, VM, etc.)
(4) throw CPUs into a "loop" which would eventually disable the system.
 
This would all have to be written -- again, in ASCII -- within the
constraints of an outgoing mail message from AOL, which is presently a
maximum of 32k.
 
What is most likely the -real- cause of this scare is a chain letter titled
"Good Times", which has been floating around the Internet and online services
for several years. As the Internet is opened up to larger populations of
"average people", chain letters are increasingly becoming a problem. It's
entirely possible that the original "Good Times" scare was nothing more than
an advisory intended to stop the spread of the chain letter. Unfortunately,
as with many rumors it has grown completely out of proportion.
 
If you or anyone you know receives a chain letter from an America Online
member -- be it "Good Times", "MAKE MONEY FAST", or any of the dozens of
annoying variations on the theme -- forward a complete copy to
[log in to unmask] Distribution of chain letters is a violation of America
Online's Terms of Service, and appropriate action will be taken to prevent
further distribution of the chain letter.
 
If you have additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to send
mail to David O'Donnell at [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]