HIGH TECH CORNER: NASTY NEW VIRUS HITS THE INTERNET

As I have told you in the past, you should update your virus-checking software at least weekly if not daily if you really want to be safe. And for many readers here in Cape Girardeau, they wish they had.

Yes, the new EXPLORE.ZIP, which combines the reproductive abilities of the Melissa worm with the destructive force of the Chernobyl virus has arrived. This is a real nasty one that wipes out your hard drive.

Once opened, the virus, called Worm.ExploreZip, deletes files off hard drives. Not limited to Exchange, it will piggyback any MAPI-compliant e-mail system "Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, etc."

It is being described as an Internet worm because it spreads by e-mailing itself automatically across the Internet. This virus was suspected to have started in Israel.

Even companies like Microsoft were hit with the new EXPLORE.ZIP virus and had to bring down its total e-mail to protect its massive interconnected network. How can any of us be safe in a world of e-mail terrorism?

It works in the following destructive way:

ExploreZip creates a file of zero length and then names it the same as an existing Word, Excel or PowerPoint file, essentially overwriting the original file. When users send e-mail to infected desktops, they will receive a response that contains the virus payload.

The message header will appear the same, but the text inside will be changed. It will say: (BOLD) "Hi (Recipient Name)! I received your e-mail and I shall send you a reply ASAP. Till then, take a look at the attached zipped docs. Bye" (UNBOLD)

Once the attachment is executed, a computer will likely display a fake error message. The worm then copies itself to the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory with the file-name "Explore.exe" and then modifies the WIN.INI file so the program is executed each time Windows is started.

When it is executed, the worm searches drives C: through Z: of a computer and selects a series of files to destroy based on file extensions (including .h, .c, .cpp, .asm, .doc, .xls, .ppt) by making them zero bytes long -- wiping out data.

This virus can be removed very simply. The only problem is that if you figure out that you have the virus, damage has already been done to your system. To get rid of the worm, remove the line

run=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\Explore.exe from the WIN.INI file and delete the file

"C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\EXPLORE.EXE." If the file is in use, users might need to reboot first.

So how do you keep from getting a nasty bug like this one? The simplest method independent of a virus checking program is to simply delete any messages that have attachments that are not in a PKZIP format. Don't accept attachments in any other format.

On the video front, the cable industry, "NCTA," just had its latest meeting in Chicago.

The cable industry finally awakened to the fact that Satellite TV is a real threat to its monopoly. Cable executives admitted that digital overlay like what is used in Cape is not a good solution for preventing subscribers from jumping to DBS. Digital overlay simply adds digital programming to an existing analog system of cable channels.

Falcon president and chief operating officer Frank Intiso noted that existing cable systems, "must upgrade up to 750 MHz, two-way plant in order to refute losses to DBS platforms."

Cape Girardeau is a long way from this happening to our little cable system. The cable industry exec's plan is to buy back your dish. Give me cable modem access in Cape Girardeau, and I might consider it. Why else would you give up better quality, Dolby digital support and more television selections?

As always feel free to contact me at digital@ldd.net and www.digitallabs.com