A new AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) virus is being reported, and this one sure is a friendly little guy. After taking over your AIM buddy list, it sends out instant messages to all of your friends, inviting them to visit a link to the website of The Harp, an Irish pub in Amherst, Massachusetts (some of Aunty’s old stomping grounds – er, Amherst that is, not The Harp).
The Harp sounds like a fun place, with a Pub Trivia night, live music on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and boasting sixteen beer taps.
Unfortunately, it isn’t a rousing round of “Danny Boy” to which this virus is inviting you (or even a rousing round of one of the many draughts they pull from their sixteen taps).
No, you see, the problem is that appended to the end of the link being sent out to your buddies is the file name “aol.com” (there it is again, that dastardly “.com” at the end of a filename, guaranteed to confuse those who aren’t paying close attention). So your friends are invited to visit that link , which will, of course, grab and install the virus, and just like that old shampoo commercial, they’ll tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends, and so on and so on.
So, if any of your buddies appears to invite you for a drink down at the the old Harp Pub, send out for a pizza instead.
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