HOAX στα αγγλικά σημαίνει πονηριά, τέχνασμα, αστείο, πλάκα.
Είναι ηλίθια "αστεία" που λένε στους χρήστες ότι π.χ. κάποιο αρχείο του συστήματος (το οποίο είναι χρήσιμο) είναι ιός και προτρέπουν να το σβήσουμε.
Θυμάσαι πέρσι τέτοιο περιστατικό με ένα αρχείο των Windows με εικονίδιο ένα αρκουδάκι;
What is HOAX?
HOAX means a false warning about virus.
Hoax, joke, that's one form of this phenomena. Many hoax are obviously jokes, you understand immediately it can't be true. Others look like real, serious warnings, but are false.
Often it's possible to recognize a hoax from the virus description. Mostly it is about a extremely dangerous virus, the warning says non of the anti-virus programs can detect or cure it. Often Microsoft is an offer and stands powerless against the attack. You are always told to send the warning to as many people as possible.
"The meaning" seems to be exactly that - get people to start a flood of e-mail, perhaps so big and strong that the whole internet is blocked. This is a good reason to be very suspicious to virus warnings, and always check whether it is serious or not. hoax. F-Secure have a site where you can search known hoax, http://www.europe.f-secure.com/virus-info/hoax/
Lots of information can be found at http://www.vmyths.com/
Lately a less "funny" variant of hoax has appeared. These hoax have, if you follow their instructions, the same effect on your computer as a real virus. These hoax warn for files that belong to the Windows originally file system, and you are told to immediately remove them and tell everyone in your address book to do the same. If the file is removed, the computer might stop working properly.
Two hoax of this type being spread lately are sulfnbk.exe and jdbgmgr.exe Both jdbgmgr.exe is a file in Java handling. Look up for warnings to these files, and don't remove them from your computer. They are totally legal and needed.
Another form of hoax, generating lots of e-mailing and cheating people radically, are fantastic offers concerning mobile telephones, computers and such things. If you forward a great amount of e-mail and tell a big company where you sent them, you are said to become a mobile telephone for example. Just a little thinking around the costs an offer like that would generate, covering the whole world, says all about how (un) trustworthy it is.
There also exists very bad "jokes" with very sad content, where you are told to forward a message about for example a little child suffering from cancer. If the parents can show up a great number of e-mails, says the "hoax", their child will have treatment by expensive specialists.
[ 26-04-2003: Message edited by: GregoryGR ]
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www.gregory.gr
στάλθηκε στις 24-04-2003 14:43
στάλθηκε στις 24-04-2003 15:04
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