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Friendly Greeting Hides Worm

Users think they're opening an electronic greeting card, but they may be passing on a virus to their Outlook contacts.

Wendy Brewer, PC Advisor

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Antivirus company Trend Micro today warned users to keep their eyes peeled for a worm that spreads quickly, known as Friends Greeting or worm_friendgrt.B.

The worm sends out an e-mail message inviting the recipient to access an online greetings card. When you click on the link provided, it asks you to download software so that you can view the card.

But while downloading the software the worm requests permission to send itself to all the other addresses in your Outlook contacts list. Unwary users who simply click on the 'I agree' option will unwittingly give the application the right to e-mail itself to all their contacts.

The Fine Print

"People must continue to be cautious of opening attachments and starting unknown applications," said Raimund Genes, president of Trend Micro's European operations. "This is especially important because this is a normal application, which even warns you that it will send out e-mails to all contacts within the Outlook address book."

"It's very important to read all on-screen messages and license agreements because this is already the second occurrence of such an application," Genes added.

The e-mail reads:

Subject: you have an E-Card from

Message Body: Greetings! has sent you an E-Card -- a virtual postcard from FriendGreetings.com. You can pick up your E-Card at the FriendGreetings.com by clicking on the link below.

What to Do

To uninstall the virus, Trend Micro advises users to:

1. Click Start, select Settings, then click Control Panel.

2. Under the Control Panel window, click the Add/Remove Programs icon.

3. In the list of applications, select FRIEND GREETINGS then click the Add/Remove or Change/Remove button.

4. Restart your PC.

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