The Goodtimes Virus was a computer virus hoax that spread during the early years of the Internet's popularity. A computer virus is a Computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user A hoax is a deliberate attempt to Dupe, Deceive or trick an audience into believing or accepting that something is real when in fact it is not or that The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks Warnings about a computer virus named "Good Times" began being passed around among Internet users in 1994. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) The Goodtimes virus was supposedly transmitted via an email bearing the subject header "Good Times" or "Goodtimes," hence the virus's name, and the warning recommended deleting any such email unread. Electronic mail, often abbreviated to e-mail, email, or originally eMail, is a Store-and-forward method of writing sending receiving The virus described in the warnings did not exist, but the warnings themselves, were, in effect, virus-like.
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History
The first recorded email warnings about the Good Times virus showed up on November 15, 1994. Events 655 - Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) [1] The first message was brief, a simple five sentence email with a holiday greeting, advising recipients not to open email messages with subject "GOOD TIMES!!", as doing so would ruin their files. Later messages became more intricate. The most common versions -- the "Infinite loop" and "ASCII buffer" editions -- were much longer, containing descriptions of what exactly Good Times would do to the computer of someone who opened it, as well as comparisons to other viruses of the time, and references to an FCC warning. An infinite loop is a sequence of instructions in a computer program which loops endlessly either due to the loop having no terminating condition or having one that can
One of the demo videos included with the Windows 95 beta CDs was a music video entitled "Good Times". Discussions of this video and the artist were often criticised for "spreading the virus"
Purported effects
The longer version of the Good Times warning contained descriptions of what Good Times was capable of doing to computers. In addition to sending itself to every email address in a recipient's received or sent mail, the Good Times virus caused a number of other nasty things to happen. If an infected computer contained a hard drive, it would most likely be destroyed. If Goodtimes was not stopped in time, an infected computer would enter an "nth-complexity infinite binary loop," (a meaningless term) damaging the processor. The "ASCII" buffer email described the mechanism of Good Times as a buffer overflow. In Computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomalous condition where a process attempts to
Hoaxes similar to Good Times
A number of computer virus hoaxes appeared in the wake of Good Times. A computer virus hoax is a false email message warning the recipient of a virus that is going around These messages were similar in form to Good Times, warning users not to open messages bearing particular subject lines. Subject lines mentioned in these emails include: "Penpal greetings"[2], "Free Money"[3], "Deeyenda"[4] and "Invitation" [5], and "Win a Holiday"
Viruses that function like Good Times
Developments in mail systems, such as Microsoft Outlook, without sufficient thought as to the security implications, made viruses that indeed propagate themselves via email possible. Microsoft Outlook or Outlook (full name Microsoft Office Outlook since Outlook 2003 is a Personal information manager from Microsoft, and is Notable examples include the Melissa worm and the Anna Kournikova virus. The Melissa worm, also known as "Mailissa" " Simpsons " " Kwyjibo " or "Kwejeebo" is a mass-mailing macro virus, Jan de Wit (born 1981) is the Dutch author of a Computer worm commonly known as the Anna Kournikova Computer virus, which worm In some cases, a user must open a document or program contained in an email message in order to spread the virus, but in others, merely opening or previewing an email message itself will trigger the virus.
Good Times parody: Bad Times
The Good Times virus even spawned a humorous parody, the Bad Times virus. A parody (ˈpɛɹədiː US, [ˈpaɹədiː] UK) in contemporary usage is a work created to mock comment on or poke fun at an original work its subject Bad Times is a Computer virus Hoax sent out by E-mail. This "virus" does not actually exist and the "warning" is meant to parody the Originally created by Patrick J. Rothfuss, this spoof also made ridiculous claims to the threats of this virus. The original message is as follows:
Goodtimes will re-write your hard drive. Not only that, but it will scramble any disks that are even close to your computer. It will recalibrate your refrigerator's coolness setting so all your ice cream goes melty. It will demagnetize the strips on all your credit cards, screw up the tracking on your television and use subspace field harmonics to scratch any CDs you try to play.
It will give your ex-girlfriend your new phone number. It will mix Kool-aid into your fishtank. Kool-Aid is a brand of artificially-flavored drink mix owned by the Kraft Foods Company. It will drink all your beer and leave its socks out on the coffee table when there's company coming over. It will put a dead kitten in the back pocket of your good suit pants and hide your car keys when you are late for work.
Goodtimes will make you fall in love with a penguin. It will give you nightmares about circus midgets. It will pour sugar in your gas tank and shave off both your eyebrows while dating your girlfriend behind your back and billing the dinner and hotel room to your Discover card. The Discover Card is a major Credit card, issued primarily in the United States.
It will seduce your grandmother. It does not matter if she is dead, such is the power of Goodtimes, it reaches out beyond the grave to sully those things we hold most dear.
It moves your car randomly around parking lots so you can't find it. It will kick your dog. It will leave libidinous messages on your boss's voice mail in your voice! It is insidious and subtle. It is dangerous and terrifying to behold. It is also a rather interesting shade of mauve.
Goodtimes will give you Dutch Elm disease. Dutch elm disease (DED is a fungal disease of Elm trees which is spread by the Elm bark beetle. It will leave the toilet seat up. A toilet seat is the seat and lid of a Toilet bowl. It consists of the seat itself which is contoured for the user to sit on the toilet and the lid which covers It will make a batch of methamphetamine in your bathtub and then leave bacon cooking on the stove while it goes out to chase grade schoolers with your new snowblower. A snow blower, snowblower, or snow thrower is a machine for removing Snow from an area where it is not wanted such as a Driveway, Sidewalk
References
- ^ Good Times Virus Hoax FAQ, dated December 12, 1998, last retrieved on 13 March 2008
- ^ Symantec.com - Penpal Greetings description, retrieved 13 March 2008
- ^ Symantec.com - Free Money description, retrieved 13 March 2008
- ^ Symantec.com - Deeyenda description, retrieved 13 March 2008
- ^ Olympic Torch Invitation Virus Hoax description, retrieved 13 March 2008
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