of OW-Preussen-L Digest
June 1 virus hoax damage can be repaired
By BRIAN SULLIVAN
(June 01, 2001) If you fell for the June 1 virus hoax and dutifully deleted
the SULFNBK.EXE file from your Windows 98 operating system, don't panic.
Chances are good that you won't notice that the file has been removed, its
loss won't harm Windows 98, and the file can be easily replaced.
Several sites are already offering advice on how to restore the SULFNBK.EXE
file, including McAfee.com in Sunnyvale, Calif., and Securityportal.com, an
online service provided by AtomicTangerine in San Francisco.
Computer users recently received e-mail warnings that the SULFNBK.EXE file
was infected with a virus and should be deleted if found. Although experts
quickly dismissed the warnings as a hoax (see story), many people deleted
the file, which is a standard part of Windows 98 and makes backups of all
the Long File Names on a computer. With the proper switch, it is used to
restore those file names, said Burrell, who is also a member of the
Anti-Virus Information Exchange Network (AVIEN).
Losing the SULFNBK.EXE file won't have much of an impact on your system,
said Robert Vibert, a researcher of malicious software and solution
architect at Segura Solutions Inc. in Braeside, Ontario, and AVIEN's
moderator. "Few people use it, and it does not harm the operating system,"
he said.
The only users who would notice SULFNBK.EXE missing would be those who use
an archaic system that doesn't recognize Long File Names.
AVIEN said the public began calling its center after stories in the media
appeared about the SULFNBK.EXE hoax. Worried that they might have damaged
their operating systems by removing the file, readers flooded AVIEN and
media outlets with calls and e-mails seeking help, said Paul Schmehl, a
founding member of AVIEN and supervisor for support services at the
University of Texas at Dallas.
One woman who contacted Computerworld said she had seen that the e-mail
about SULFNBK.EXE was a hoax, but when she got home, her husband insisted
that the couple delete the file from their home PC. She worried that her
husband might have ruined their machine.