Well, I've heard from several betas, so I do believe it's time.

If you're one of the betas and you haven't responded yet, I'm really sorry. I'm not trying to ignore you- I just want this posted. It's been a dog's age since I updated it and I'm feeling a bit guilty about that.

So without further ado (and with a few apologies for reposting the Julian Konopka material, but it is all part of a single unit)... Who Ya Gonna Owl?, chapter 5.

Those of you who need refreshing can find it here: chapters one, two, three, and four.

( The merpeople off the coast of Scotland were at it again. )

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( Well, THAT took longer than it had to. )

Today's missive.

I sent this out to everyone in my office today after an incident with Beagle.

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Okay, folks, we've recently had an upswing in virus activity. "But camwyn," I hear you say, "isn't that handled automatically by our wonderful software? Don't we have nothing to fear?"

Alas, this is not always the case.

You see, viruses are written by people who have nothing better to do with their time. As soon as the virus writers discover their little electronic graffiti pals no longer work, they make a few changes to the program code. And hey, presto- the latest version slips under the radar. The antivirus software packages can't recognise a virus program if they've never encountered it before.

"Oh, no!" you cry. "How terrible!"

Yes, it *is* terrible, isn't it? Especially since viruses these days can fake their sender to look like they're from someone you know.

"You mean a completely antisocial computer program that exists to spread porn and chaos might not be entirely honest about its orign? Gasp! Shock! Horror!"

Alas, it's true. Most viruses these days will infect a computer- usually a home computer, since home users *coughcoughlikemyownparentscough* don't always bother to INSTALL ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE. Then they'll go through that computer's email address book when Outlook or Outlook Express is started. They'll pick an address from the book, claim to be from that address, and mail themselves to bunches of other email addresses in that same book. They're often quite good at changing subject lines randomly, since the only way to infect a system is to move in looking as if they're something innocent.

What this means to you, my friendly neighbourhood users, is that you can NOT necessarily trust emails arriving from people you know.

"But- why, I've always thought you said we could!" I hear you say. So sorry, but this is not the case. We had a virus arrive at the Chapter the other day in the form of an email claiming to be from someone the RSVP department knew, with a subject line of "Re: ", and with an attachment. This little bugger was loaded and ready for bear, and could've caused a lot of trouble if a scan of the recipient's computer hadn't caught it and eradicated it.

UNLESS YOU ARE WAITING FOR AN ATTACHMENT, do not open emails with attachments. UNLESS YOU ARE SPECIFICALLY WAITING FOR A PARTICULAR ATTACHMENT, do not open emails with attachments. "Re: " is not an acceptable subject line. Neither is "Here is the document." Neither is a blank subject line. All three are commonly used by viruses, as are many others. Tell EVERY SINGLE PERSON who owes you an email attachment for some reason to put a VERY. SPECIFIC. SUBJECT. LINE. Agree on that line beforehand. And don't open ANY messages from them unless that subject line is being used!

Meanwhile, learn from my parents' example and *install antivirus software on your home computer*. Then use it regularly, and update it at LEAST once a week.

Thank you.

-camwyn