Rumors - Virus Hoax - A Virtual Card for You and/or An Internet Flower for You

All external links last last verified 11/14/2006

Items on this page were researched by Bill Sanders (aka LYAO Editor or "-LE")

Each item in question is in a white box and listed first, followed by it's status, links to my sources (where I determined the fact was right, wrong, etc.), and any comments I might have on the subject in a light yellow box. ;-)

Any short notes written by me on quoted material are in square brackets ("[" and "]"]

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A Virtual Card for You

AKA: A Card for You;

This one has been around for years. The first time I received it was sometime in 2001. I later received a version on a Yahoo Group. At some point, it was combined with "An Internet Flower for You" (AKA: A Virtual Flower for You). Please be sure to read my END NOTES.

2004 Yahoo Newsgroup

*** WARNING ***

A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified by Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/) and by McAfee (http://www.mcafee.com/) as the most destructive ever!

This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee and no vaccine has yet been developed. This virus simply destroys Sector Zero from the hard disk, where vital information for its functioning are stored.

This virus acts in the following manner: It sends itself automatically to all contacts on your list with the title "A Virtual Card for You."

As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened, the computer freezes so that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+del keys or the reset button are pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently destroying the hard disk. according to news broadcast by CNN (http://www.cnn.com/).

This alert was received by an employee of Microsoft itself. So don't open any mails with subject "A Virtual Card for You." As soon as you get the mail, delete it. Please pass on this mail to all your friends.

Forward this to everyone in your address book. I would rather receive this 25 times than not at all.

Version #2
Received 11/14/2006

WORST VIRUS EVER --- CNN ANNOUNCED
PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST!!

A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive ever. This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee . This virus simply destroys Sector Zero from the hard disk, where vital information for its functioning are stored. This virus acts in the following manner: It sends itself automatically to all contacts on your list with the title:

"A Card for You".

As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened the computer freezes so that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+ del keys or the reset button are pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently destroying the hard disk. Yesterday in just a few hours this virus caused panic in New York , according to news broadcast by CNN.

This alert was received by an employee of Microsoft itself.

So don't open any mails with subject: "A Virtual Card for You." As soon as you get the mail, delete it !! Even if you know the sender !!!

Please pass this mail to all of your friends.

Status: WRONG

Source(s):

NOTES: The above may also be combined with A Virtual Flower for You, below.

I didn't save this every time I got it. If I had, it would have taken a LOT of space on my disk! I replied each time, but apparently, not everyone reads or remembers my replies! Believe that I've received many more than two versions of this.

As you can see, most versions contain pretty much the same language.

In other words, just look for "A Card for You" or "A Virtual Card for You".

An Internet Flower for You

[Also] Intel announced that a new and very destructive virus was discovered recently.

If you receive an email called "An Internet Flower For You," do not open it. Delete it right away!

This virus removes all dynamic link libraries (.dll files) from your computer. Your computer will not be able to boot up.

Status: WRONG

Source(s):

Comment(s):

To be honest, I've never seen this except in the company of the Virtual Card hoax, but, apparently, it's been around on its own, before.

End Notes

Most everyone is aware that you can go to a large number of legitimate sites that send "virtual cards" and "virtual flowers" to your friends.

If you set yourself up to automatically delete these, or do not open them, you MAY find you have missed out on the love of your life, a beautiful birthday wish, a funny card, or other things.

That doesn't mean that all of these can be safe.

Check out ANY email that contains dire warnings, and urges you to forward them to your friends. And if there's an attachment with the email, be VERY WARY! I would not be surprised if one day, an unscrupulous person sends a timed virus out under the guise of a warning like this...

And, again, please be sure you have an updated virus scanner running at all times. It may slow down your computer, some, but that's MUCH better than having your computer completely die, with everything you treasure wiped from or inaccessible on the drive!

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