UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 30, Page 10
May 4, 1995
TechTalk
'Good Times' not had by all

     Recently, warnings of the "Good Times" virus spread across
campus, alerting computer users to the imminent loss of their
electronic information.
     The good news is that this particular "virus" is only a hoax.
It's not a computer virus, and no one's data or files are actually in
danger.
     "The 'Good Times' virus alarmed a lot of us last month because we
realize how critical computing and electronic data is to our work,"
Susan Allmendinger, system security and access, said.
     This hoax claimed that if you read an e-mail message with "Good
Times" in the subject line, your computer files would be erased. You
should know that computer viruses can't be "caught" through e-mail
messages, Allmendinger said.
     "However," she explained, "if you download programs from
locations on the network or bring a diskette to work with a program
you want to use, you could encounter a computer virus. And, be aware
that a hacker may one day name one of these viruses 'Good Times.'"
     The only damage done by the "Good Times" hoax was to cause a lot
of unnecessary e-mail messages as users tried to alert their friends
and colleagues, Allmendinger said.