I get awakened by my girlfriend this morning shaking me and saying, “I gave you a virus, wake up,” so I --concerned as always for my health–get out of bed and, after learning this is a computer issue, not a health issue, fire up my laptop, and she’s reading me a list of EMERGENCY instructions she just got from a good friend of hers about this terrible virus that she (the friend) has just sent to everyone in her address book that must be erased immedaitely, so (I’m still in my skivvies, waiting for the damned coffee to brew) I’m searching for these “virus” ridden programs, find them and, as I start erasing them, say to my gf, “These look like program files, for chrissake. Tell me again why am I erasing them, and is that coffee ready yet?” Turns out I’ve already erased two exe. files before realizing that maybe my gf’s friend doesn’t have anything resembling a clue.
So how do these hoaxes get started? And would the people who think they’re funny (is that it? I don’t get the point of driving 1000’s of strangers nuts) please drop dead? Thank you very much.
I will addend the original, in Case any Dopers get something that looks like this. PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE FOLLOWING TEXT:
"I just found out I received a virus that automatically
is passed through email address books. Since you are in my address
book, you will probably find it in your computer too. The virus (called
jdbg.exe) is not detected by Norton or McAfee Anti-virus systems. The
virus sits quietly for 14 days before damaging the system. It is sent
automatically by ‘messenger’ and by address book, whether or not you sent
e-
mail to your contacts. Sorry for the hassle -
Here is how to check for the virus and how to get rid
of it.
PLEASE DO THIS ASAP:
Go to Start, then click your ‘Find’ or ‘Search’
option
In the folder option, type the name…jdbgm
Be sure to search your C Drive and all the sub
folders and any other
drives you may have
Click ‘Find Now’
The virus has a teddy bear icon with the name
jdbgmgr.exe DO NOT OPEN
IT!
Go to Edit (on the menu bar) and choose “Select
All” to highlight the
file without opening it.
Now go to File ( on the menu bar) and select
delete. It will then go to
the recycle bin. If you find the virus, you must
contact all the people in
your Address Book so that they may eradicate the virus
from their own
address books.
I think this was the greatest virus ever created… because it isn’t one.
#1. It doesn’t really do any harm to the computer. #2. It counts on people being gullible #3. IT guys get to laugh whenever they have a panicked phone call about a virus names jdbgmgr.
and for you…
question every strange e-mail you get!! SNOPES.COM
It’s an awesome teaching tool. You get to give a mini-lecture about not beleiving everything they read so as to cut down on all those hoaxes out there, contacting IT for questions such as these BEFORE they act, and recapping safe email practices. And all for something that essentially does no harm.
I just recieved this hoax from the health insurance rep I’ve been arguing with for the past month. Luckily, the part about the teddy bear rang a bell so I checked out Snopes. I think I was able to inform her of her mistake (with a link to Snopes) without making any snide comments, but only just barely.
My sister just forwarded the WTC virus hoax - and I sent her a link to snopes. She’s new to being online (yeah, I know, it’s embarassing) so I wasn’t too snarky. THIS time…
I think some of them are made out of stupidity not maliciousness. Eg. someone sees a file infected by a virus, thinks the file is a virus, tells everyone to delete it, etc…
What gets me is that people believe them all. OK, you’re new to a computer and all, but how long does it take you to learn that not everything people forward you is true?
The puzzling thing is that some of these hoaxes seem to go dormant for long periods, then re-emerge, like locusts, and spread all over the place again. The “jdb” hoax referred to in the OP is what, about 3 years old? I thought it had been laid to rest. How do they get restarted?
When I was a sysadmin, I had a simple rule for my users: if you get an email from anyone but me, alerting you to a virus, it’s a hoax! For home users, you can revise that to “an email from anyone,” period.
Just on the safe side when this was going around last year, I got a copy of the file from 98, 2K, XP, and kept them on my system. When ever a user calls saying they deleted the file (or more often use the All Users mail group to forward it) I just use the system share, and copy it back on. Then give the user a small chewing out, point to symantec, and tell them not to do it again. I have done this for several hoaxes when they start showing up.
I haven’t seen it for awhile but if anyone remembers the AOL.EXE virus hoax it was started by the web master at this site www.jokeaday.com (on the left side go to The AOL.EXE Virus link). It was emailed to a joke list. The hoax letter was very obvious even if you know nothing about computers, but people deleted it anyway.
I had the distinct pleasure of being forwarded an email warning about the jdbgm “virus” from a work contact. I was also just barely able to send a response including a link to snopes without being snarky. Seriously, people are so freaking dumb. So dumb. It’s pathetic actually.
More like pathetically trusting. Both times I’ve fallen for this (and yesterday I plead being 3/4ths asleep), there was a close friend screaming (or e-screaming) at me to hurry up and trust her (both cases, a her) and erase the virus before the world exploded [!!!, etc.]
What file would I be deleting?