Virus warning "Win a holiday" is a hoax

[Matt Craver <MCraver -at- OPENSOLUTIONS -dot- COM>]

This is a bit off-topic, but since I've seen one or two "Virus Warnings"
posted here, I thought I'd cut some bandwidth off at the pass, as it
were.  In addition to the documentation I do here, I'm also one of the
NT security people.  We've seen a number of people unwittingly "forward
to all" a hoax virus warning concerning a "Win a Holiday" e-mail
message.  Both antivirus vendors and the U.S. Department of Energy
Computer Incident Advisory Capacity have posted information about this
hoax.  As an example, this is from the Symantec Anti-virus Research
Center:

>© 1998 Symantec Corporation
>All rights reserved. Win a Holiday 
>Aliases: Hoax Infection length: Hoax Area of infection: Hoax
Likelihood: Hoax Region reported: >Online Characteristics: Hoax Target
platform: Hoax Trigger date: Hoax 
>Description: 
>
>Win a Holiday is not a virus. It is a hoax. The "virus" does not exist.
There is currently no virus >that has the characteristics ascribed to
"Win a Holiday." It is a sham, meant only to panic new or >inexperienced
computer users. In addition, it is a mild variant of the "Join the Crew"
hoax (form 4).
>
>The hoax message includes the following "warning:"
>>
>>VIRUS WARNING !!!!!!
>>
>>If you receive an email titled "WIN A HOLIDAY" DO NOT open it. It will
erase everything on your >>hard drive. Forward this letter out as many
people as you can. This is a new, very malicious virus >>and not many
people know about it. This information was announced yesterday morning
from >>Microsoft; please share it with everyone that might access the
Internet. Once again, pass this >>along to EVERYONE in our address book
so that this may be stopped. Also, do not open or >>even look at any
mail that says "RETURNED OR UNABLE TO DELIVER" This virus will attach
>>itself to your computer components and render them useless.
Immediately delete any mail items >>that say this. AOL has said that
this is a very dangerous virus and that there is NO remedy for it >>at
this time. Please practice cautionary measures and forward this to all
your online friends >>ASAP.
>
>Please ignore any messages regarding this supposed "virus" and do not
pass on any messages >regarding it. Passing on messages about this hoax
serves only to further propagate it.

Symantec's information page about virus hoaxes is at:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
The U.S. Department of Energy CIAC's information about hoaxes is at:
http://www.ciac.org/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html

Again, I apologize to Eric and everyone else if this is too far
off-topic, but I thought I'd help stop the propagation of these needless
hoax messages.
-Matthew Craver,
Technical Documentation
Open Solutions Inc. 
Mcraver -at- opensolutions -dot- com