A virus that's hard to bear

Many of you have probably heard of the bugbear virus, but hopefully none of you have had the unpleasant experience of encountering it. While much of its "payload" is designed as an annoyance, it does have potential as a security risk.

Some of its characteristics are:

	Once a machine on your network becomes infected (normally through an email), it will copy itself to other PCs that share their drives. The file is placed in the startup directory of these machines so that when they restart they too become infected. This makes cleaning the virus quite difficult, as all PCs must be checked at the same time otherwise they will continue to infect one another.
	The virus can disable many of the popular brands of anti-virus and firewall software, meaning that not only will the virus go undetected, but your machine may be vulnerable to outside attack while connected to the Internet.
	One sign that a machine on your network has become infected with the virus is when network printers start to print page after page of garbage. The virus will look for network printers and then copy itself to the printer, resulting in up to 500 pages of wasted paper.
	The virus also has the capability of logging keystrokes. This means that passwords to online banking can be trapped.
	The virus does NOT have a bear icon. Hoax e-mail writers have taken advantage of the situation and resurrected an old hoax e-mail that involved the file "JDBGMGR.EXE" which has a bear icon. The file is a standard file and is unrelated to the bug bear virus.

You can reduce the chances of the virus spreading across your network by making sure that only hard drives that need to be accessed via the network, are shared. If you do share drives then make sure they are password protected.

Due to its ability to disable virus scanners, many of the anti-virus software companies have released special removal tools especially for this virus. If you are infected, or just wish to make sure that you are not, you can download one of the following:

McAffee AVERT Stinger

http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger

BitDefender Anti Bug-Bear

http://www.bitdefender.com/download/
download.php?file=AntiBugBear.exe

Symantec BugBear Tool

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/
avcenter/venc/data/w32.bugbear@mm.removal.tool.html

  Did You Know?

First Class uses some standard Windows shortcuts?

Many of the shortcuts in First Class are the same as for any other Windows program. For example:

	ALT F       Opens the File Menu
	ALT TAB     Toggles between programs
	ALT F4       Exits First Class
	CTRL TAB     Toggles between open Windows in First Class
	CTRL F4       Closes the active screen

First Class has a Find function in all reports?

If you have a report open and would like to find some text, such as a student's name, within that report, you can use the Find function. This operates in a similar way to the Find function in Windows:

	Click on the BINOCULARS ICON in the report toolbar
	Type in key words/characters that will pinpoint the item you wish to find
	Set the parameters for the search, for example Match Case, Search Up/Down
	Click FIND NEXT
	Continue to click FIND NEXT until you have found the item you want
	Click CANCEL to exit the Find function

  Website of the Week

www.nationalgeographic.com

The National Geographic website is such a fantastic source of interesting information that it’s hard to know where to start!

There is a daily news section on the site’s home page featuring interesting current issues and stories. The Guides area links to categories featured in the magazine, Adventure, Animals & Nature and History & Culture.

Anyone who has seen a copy of the National Geographic magazine will be familiar with the quality of photography featured. The website has a Photography section that allows you to scroll through a series of photographs and also save them to your computer as "wallpaper".

As you would expect, the website is also a great source of educational information. There is a Homework Help area for students and plenty of resources for teachers including lesson plans, printable maps, quizzes and games. There is even a NG Kids link to a magazine especially for kids, featuring games, fun facts and stories.

The National Geographic website is certainly worth a visit, whether you are seeking to improve your knowledge about the world or just have a bit of fun. It really does seem to have something for everyone.

  Quote of the Week

"Don't spend your precious time asking 'Why isn't the world a better place?' It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is 'How can I make it better?' To that there is an answer." Leo F. Buscaglia, Author of "The Way Of The Bull"

For more information, please contact:

Robert Bakker
Human Edge Software
Phone: 1300 301 931
Fax: +61 3 9690 2802
Email: firstclass@humanedge.biz

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