Local computer techs battle 'Goner' virus

Computer specialists in Cape Girardeau were scrambling Tuesday and Wednesday fighting the destructive e-mail virus dubbed "Goner."

Fewer than 10 of Southeast Missouri State University's 3,000 computers were stricken with the virus by Wednesday, said Joan Evans, supervisor of the school's information technologies help desk.

She said it helped that the virus was widely publicized so quickly.

"The guys isolated it by noon," she said. When they pinpointed the entry point, technicians shut down the server and stopped the virus from spreading, she said.

The e-mail has a subject line of "Hi" and asks the user to check an attached screen saver program.

If the recipient runs the screen saver, the computer becomes infected. Like many e-mail attacks, it sends itself to everyone in the victim's address book. It can also send itself through the instant messaging program ICQ.

A Southeast professor, one of the unlucky few who opened the attachment, said the screen saver showed a small box, then what looked like fireworks.

When the computer "kind of shut itself off" and showed that it was sending automatic mail to everyone he knew, he tried to delete the message as quickly as possible.

"I realized too late when I opened it," he said.

Since the message came from a woman he had lunch with the day before, he assumed she was just following up.

Similarly, Susan McClanahan, who works at Cape Girardeau Senior Center, said the worm that attacked her computer was attached to an e-mail from someone with whom she corresponds frequently.

"And he got it from his sister," she said.

That's because when a person opens the infected e-mail, it automatically sends itself to everyone in their address book.

A computer technician was working on McClanahan's computer all day Wednesday salvaging files, she said.

" I didn't realize how much I use my computer," McClanahan said. "I got caught up on some long-overdue hand filing."

Computer experts advise that people not open unexpected e-mail attachments even if the sender is someone familiar. Computer users should update their antivirus software at least weekly.

The virus Wednesday was the latest in a two-month computer headache for Wes Kinsey, owner of My Daddy's Cheesecake.

A hacker destroyed the pastry shop's Web site about six weeks ago and the company had to spend about $2,000 rebuilding it.

The hacker attacked three days in a row, managing to replace the Web page so that nothing but obscenities showed up when a visitor tried to browse the site.

"We've been online four-and-a-half years now, and we've never had a computer problem until two months ago," Kinsey said.

About 15 percent of the restaurant's mail-order business comes through the Internet, and Kinsey said some of the company's largest corporate clients found the pastry shop through its Web site.

Although new precautions have made things a bit tougher for hackers, they've also complicated Kinsey's life.

Every morning he downloads the latest version of anti-virus protection. Then he checks for new orders, scanning all e-mail as it comes in.

"Now I automatically delete anything from a name I don't recognize," Kinsey said. "I used to go in and read everything."

Even if the unexpected e-mail is a promotion or from a potential new client, "I can't take that chance," he said.

Now new clients can browse the Web site to check out products, but usually they phone in their orders.

abuchanan@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160