Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 00:26:07 -0600
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Sender: The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace
Comments: Resent-From: crispen@netsquirrel.com
Comments: Originally-From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
From: crispen@NETSQUIRREL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS -- 14 FEBRUARY 1999 -- EBlast Site of the Day /
Happy99.exe
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TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP:
EBlast Site of the Day / Happy99.exe
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://www.eblast.com/site_of_the_day.html
http://www.eblast.com/site_archive.html
http://www.eblast.com/site_of_the_week.html
Howdy, y'all, and greetings from soon to be frigid Alabama!
Before we start today's tour, I want to thank the folks at "Advisory
Panel," "Affordable Computer Supply Marketplace," and "Golden Palace"
for bringing today's journey of our little bus of Internet happiness
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On with the show ...
----------------------
EBLAST SITE OF THE DAY
----------------------
Longtime TOURBUS riders know that my favorite Web resources include
- Dogpile, Aaron Flin's uber-search engine
(http://www.dogpile.com/);
- Pretty much anything created by either Yahoo
(http://www.yahoo.com) or CNET (http://www.cnet.com/); and
- eBlast, the Encyclopedia Britannica Links and Search Tool
(http://www.eblast.com/).
Well, you can imagine my embarrassment when I visited eBlast a few days
ago and discovered that the site has a section I did not know about:
eBlast's Site of the Day at
http://www.eblast.com/site_of_the_day.html .
Even more embarrassing is the fact that eBlast has had a Site of the
Day section since *AUGUST* of last year (I guess my mind hasn't been
quite the same since graduation). :P
Anyway, eBlast is very much like a peer-reviewed Yahoo! The editors at
the Encyclopedia Britannica sifted through millions of Web sites,
judging each site on
- Depth, accuracy, completeness, and utility of information
- Quality and effectiveness of presentation
- Credentials and authority of the author or publisher
- Elegance of design and ease of navigation
- Frequency of revision
- Quality of graphics or multimedia
Britannica's editors used these criteria to weed out 'garbage' sites so
that eBLAST's directory contains only the highest quality and most
useful Web resources in the world.
As if that weren't enough, The eBlast Site of the Day section takes
that editing process one step further. The Site of the Day section
only highlights Web sites that have "knocked [the editor's] socks off."
According to Britannica's editors, these sock-doffing sites must be
"unusually informative, impeccably designed, and truly a credit to the
medium." In other words, each eBlast Site of the Day truly is the best
of the best.
For example, eBlast's Site of the Day for Thursday, February 11, was
the Annenberg/CPB Project exhibit "Math in Daily Life: How Do Numbers
Affect Daily Decisions." You can find this interactive learning
exhibit, and many others, at
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/ .
In the Math in Daily Life exhibit, you'll "look at the language of
numbers through common situations, such as playing games or cooking.
Put your decision-making skills to the test by deciding whether buying
or leasing a new car is right for you, and predict how much money you
can save for your retirement by using an interest calculator."
To be honest, were it not for eBlast's Site of the Day section, I would
never have known about either the "Math in Daily Life" site or
countless other amazing Web resources. You can find an archive of past
eBlast Sites of the Day at
http://www.eblast.com/site_archive.html
and information about eBlast's Site of the Week at
http://www.eblast.com/site_of_the_week.html .
---------------------------------------------------------------------
BEWARE OF HAPPY99.EXE ... OR IS IT HAPPY2000.EXE ... OR HAPPY.EXE ... OR
NOTAVIRUS.EXE ... OR ...?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MSNBC reporter Bob Sullivan is at it again, this time warning people to
beware of a file named "happy99.exe" because it is actually "a computer
worm ... making its way around the Internet, sending hundreds of copies
of itself via e-mail attachments and newsgroup postings." [Quote from
http://www.msnbc.com/news/235662.asp].
Brace yourself folks: the story is true. There is indeed a file out
there named "happy99.exe," and infected versions of this file will
indeed do some nasty things to your computer.
Before you start to panic like the millions of other Internet users who
have read Sullivan's article, though, ask yourself the following:
1. How hard is it to rename a computer file? Could *YOU* do it?
2. Do you think that someone savvy enough to deliberately
distribute a computer virus over the Internet also knows how to
rename a computer file?
3. How likely do you think it is that someone will rename
the infected file "happy99.exe" and redistribute that infected
file under another file name?
Obviously, the answer to all of these questions is "DUH!" Any parent
who has inadvertently left his or her computer unattended for even a
minute can attest to the fact that even preschoolers know how to rename
computer files. [On most computers, you click on the file once to
select it, wait a second, click on the file's name, and then start
typing; on Windows machines you can also right click over the file and
then select "Rename" from the pull-down menu]. Folks, if preschoolers
can rename computer files, so can Net menaces.
As for the question about the possibility of someone renaming
"happy99.exe" and redistributing it under another name, not only am I
certain that it is possible, I will bet it has already happened. And
if that doesn't send a chill down your spine, this will: there are over
2.8 TRILLION possible file names out there, and every single one could
contain a virus, Trojan Horse, or worm.
Fortunately, the best way to protect yourself from Happy99 and tens of
thousands of other computer viruses is to purchase an antivirus program
and update your virus definitions often (at least once a week). Norton
AntiVirus currently scans for 21,219 different viruses, Trojan Horses,
and worms, including the "happy99" worm (and, unlike our friendly MSNBC
reporter, Norton AntiVirus doesn't foolishly assume that the happy99
worm only infects files named "happy99.exe." Instead, Norton scans ALL
files, regardless of their names, for both the happy99 worm and the
21,218 other viruses Norton knows about).
The other thing you can do to protect yourself from Happy99 and other
computer viruses is to follow this advice:
If you see an executable file (files that end in ".exe") in a
place where it doesn't belong (like attached to an email letter),
or if you receive a file and have no earthly idea where the file
came from or what the file does, DON'T DOUBLE-CLICK THE FILE!
Just throw out the file and move on with your life.
Or, as Rob Rosenberger so eloquently put it, "beware any file sent
by someone you don't know. Beware any file sent by someone you DO
know."
As you can see, warning people to beware of a particular file name
(like happy99.exe) is, at best, foolish. There are 2.8 trillion
possible file names out there, and every one could contain a virus.
Even worse, knowing the name of a file that contains a virus does you
no good because of how easy it is to rename computer files.
In other words, you can ignore virus warnings that tell you to watch
out for only one file name, even if those warnings come from MSNBC.
------------------------------
AUTODESK FOUNDATION CONFERENCE
------------------------------
Since our little bus of Internet happiness is popular in the education
community, I thought you’d appreciate knowing about the Autodesk
Foundation's upcoming project-based learning conference:
KIDS WHO KNOW AND DO
The Autodesk Foundation's Seventh Annual Conference on
Project-Based Learning
March 5-6, 1999 (Special pre-conference, school-based institutes
will be held on March 4)
San Francisco, CA
Keynote speakers: Art Costa, Bena Kallick, Deborah Meier, and
Alan November
For general conference information or to obtain a registration
form, visit http://www.autodesk.com/foundation/pblconf/conf99/ or
contact Elizabeth Share, at 415-507-6331 (phone) or
elizabeth.share@autodesk.com
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP:
EBlast Site of the Day / Happy99.exe
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://www.eblast.com/site_of_the_day.html
http://www.eblast.com/site_archive.html
http://www.eblast.com/site_of_the_week.html
--------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY
--------------------------------
NYSH-VUL (Noun). The capital of Tennessee.
Usage: "Ju been to the Opryland Hotel in Nysh-vul yet?"
[Special thanks to an anonymous TOURBUS rider for today's wurd]
You can find all of the old Southern Words of the day at
http://netsquirrel.com/crispen/word.html
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