do NOT download american.exe (FILE WARNING)

From: John Book (johnbook@yadig.com)
Date: Mon Aug 13 2001 - 00:37:05 CEST

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    ('binary' encoding is not supported, stored as-is) I was checking my e-mail today and I got one that said something to the effect of "Someone has sent you an e-mail greeting card". So I clicked to the link in the page, from greetingcardusa.cc. Or at least you think you're getting "greetingcardusa.cc".

    When you click on this page, you're supposed to get an e-card but it says "Image Browser Not Supported", followed by a button that says "Upgrade Now". What you will get is a file called american.exe, an extraction file.

    You will then be shown a card that might say something like "A friend in need is a friend in deed". However, what you actually did is downloaded a file that messes up your configuration on your computer.

    Without getting too technical, downloading american.exe will create a folder on your desktop, featuring a bunch of web pages with ads. These ads are generated by the people behind this file. When you open up your Internet Explorer, your homepage will always be set to these advertisements. Even if you know how to change the home page in your browser, it will always go back to these ads, because it also changes the Windows configuration. In other words, even if you reboot (restart) your computer, it will continue to happen until you manually change the files.

    american.exe is NOT a virus, nor is it harmful to your computer, but it is a clever program that changes the way your computer operates. Upon doing some research, I found that this file was created by one Angel Quintero of Puerto Rico, who runs paypalgreen.com. If you look for his information at register.com, his e-mail address happens to be "unavailable@unavailable.com".

    With all the Code Red viruses happening, this is just another inconvenience you'll want to avoid.

    p.e.a.c.e.
    -John Book
     
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