[computerworks]

Ernie...
A while back, several e-mail chains were circulated, claiming a "trick" to thwart these e-mail / address book viruses:

"Messages that claim that you can prevent the spread of email worms and Trojans by adding a special "trick" entry as the first contact in your email address book appear fairly frequently. Among the "names" that they suggest that you add to your address book are:

!0000
AAAAAA

The usual claim is that this will, in one way or another, stop the threat from spreading. While these are in the strictest definition of the word, not hoaxes (although the AAAAA version, with its recommendation to "Pass this on to all your friends" is close), like hoaxes, they should be ignored and not forwarded."

Symantec (Norton AntiVirus) replied about this "trick":

"--in theory, it could work with a few older worms and viruses--Symantec Security Response STRONGLY recommends that you ignore it. You should not rely on such "fixes" to prevent the spread of viruses, worms, and Trojans. Also, a hacker could exploit some variants of this message to make you more susceptible to loss of confidential information. The best defense against such threats is to have a current version of Norton AntiVirus installed, make sure that Auto-Protect is enabled, and update your virus definitions frequently. In addition, if you are on a network, or if you have a full-time connection to the Internet (such as cable or DSL), you should use firewall software. "