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I didn't steal my own e-mail address. Windows users who are careless did.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Viruses from Windows PCs are making us all miserable. Isn't it time for a change?


Aug. 7, 2002


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, The Post-Standard

   If I were king for a day, I'd ban Windows PCs.
   I like Windows, and I love some of the things you can do with a good Windows computer. But I can't hide from reality any more than you can. Careless Windows users are making the world an unpleasant place.
   My e-mail used to be enjoyable. These days it's a pain to get through. Ten percent of my e-mail is a product of a single Windows virus, the Klez Worm. One of every 10 letters I get every day comes from Klez-infected Windows PCs or from mail servers that send me automated notes telling me I'm sending out my own copies of the Klez Worm.
   I'm not doing that, of course. I have the best possible antivirus software on my Windows PC, and my Mac wouldn't know a Klez Worm from a klezmer band if one came up and smacked my Mac in the nose. (Macs are immune to Windows viruses. Repeat after me. There will be a test later in this column. Macs are immune to Windows viruses.)
   It's the mail servers that are daffy, not me; they're inanely ignorant of what the Klez Worm has done to human civilization. I'm not exaggerating or making any part of this up. The Klez Worm steals e-mail addresses from hapless Windows PCs and sends them on to fellow Klez Worms hiding away in other Windows PCs. (Not in Macs. Repeat after me: The Klez Worm can't hide in Macs.)
   These Klez buddies then send even more Klez Worms out to all the addresses they can find, using the previously stolen addresses as their own fake return address.
   In other words, Windows PCs that are infected by the Klez Worm -- probably 20 million worldwide, by my own educated guess -- are allowing these invaders to steal and then share e-mail addresses. The addresses that have been stolen are used to fake, or "spoof," the source of further mailings.
   A lot of people have my address in their Windows address books. The Klez family of worms knows me well. Hundreds of times, perhaps thousands of times, they've stolen my name and my address from Windows users who have written to me. They've used my e-mail address as their spoofed return address more times than I could ever want to count. And each time a spoofed e-mail slips out from an infected Windows PC with my address as the fake "From:" address, a mail server somewhere sends me a letter telling me it detected a virus I was trying to send.
   The fact that anybody who runs a mail server ought to know by now that the Klez Worm is faking all the return addresses seems to mean nothing. These e-mail servers keep doing their thing. Nails are smarter than e-mail servers.
   My confidence in the integrity of e-mail itself has already sunk to a new low, but I have even less confidence in the automated software that sends mail here and there. All a terrorist would have to do is ... I can't even bring myself to say this. I don't want to plant an idea in the wrong mind. But you are getting my point, right?
   When will this ever end?
   Remember the test? Here it is. Name one kind of computer that is not affected by Windows viruses.
   You're right. It's a Mac.
   Does that mean you ought to toss your Windows PC out the window and run out to buy a Mac? No, doing that sort of thing is environmentally unfriendly. Give the PC to a niece or nephew instead.
   But you owe it to yourself and to your friends -- they're the ones who suffer when your address book is stolen -- to consider an Apple Macintosh the next time you are weary of Windows. I used to recommend Linux computers also, but the current Macs are far better; like Linux PCs, modern Macs are based on a Unix (or Unix-like) operating system; unlike Linux PCs, Macs are exceptionally easy to use.
   You also owe it to me. I didn't steal my own e-mail address. Windows users who are careless did. They allowed the Klez Worm to slip into their Windows PCs.
   Nothing I can say or do will stop most of these Windows users. The ones who care are a wonderful bunch; the ones who are careless are making life miserable for millions of others. They are the ones who will never install good antivirus software or keep it up to date. They're the ones who will never stop to think before opening a strange attachment. They're the ones who haven't got a clue.
   Isn't it time for a change?