A computer virus called Melissa began spreading rapidly last weekend via e-mail, and could affect Dartmouth computers, Associate Director for Computer Services Randy Spydell said.
The virus is hidden in an e-mail message with a subject line that says, "Important Message From," and then a name of someone who you know. The text of the message contains, "Here is that document you asked for...don't show anyone else :-)."
"It's no doubt already here," Spydell said. "If you see a message like that, even if it seems to be from the person it seems to be from, don't open it."
People who use Microsoft Outlook as an e-mail client, Microsoft Word 97 or Word 2000 are at risk, a Kiewit BlitzMail Bulletin warns.
When a person who uses Microsoft Outlook receives a Melissa e-mail, downloads it and opens it, the virus digs into the user's address book and sends out infected documents to the first 50 addresses.
This can cause problems if the sent file is confidential. Also, the volume of mail created by the quickly-spreading virus can easily clog mail servers.
Dartmouth students use BlitzMail instead of Microsoft Outlook, so they are safe from that part of the problem, but the virus can still infect their computers via Microsoft Word which is capable of running so-called "mini programs" such as Melissa when documents are opened.
"It will modify some part of your Microsoft Word setup, and that will affect your use of Microsoft Word from now until you get rid of it," Spydell warned.
He said he does not expect Melissa to be a big problem at Dartmouth because students here pay attention to bulletins and generally know better than to download and open a suspicious document.
However, he said he would not be surprised if some Dartmouth students' computers are affected by the virus.
The best precaution against Melissa is to have a virus protection system installed on your computer, he said. Such programs are available for both Macintosh and Windows, and warns computer users when they are trying to copy a file to their computer that contains a virus.
Spydell said that all students should already have a virus protection program, but that even if they do not, and they download Melissa into their system, the protection systems will easily fix the infected computer.
