Tech Support Pits:

From Christina===
Dear Webby
I love your humor letter!!
I recieved the following e-mail today (see below) and I was 
wondering what you could tell me about it?  Is this a hoax?  
If I follow these instructions, what will I be removing and what 
will it do to my computer.  

If it is not a hoax, is this the correct way to go about fixing it?
Thanks for your help !!
Christina

P.S. Is there anywhere to go (website) and check up on an 
e-mail such as this?  Would there be something to be found 
on the hoax website in relation to these types of e-mails?
Thanks again
:-) 
Christine ===

(the letter was a typical Teddybear hoax chainletter)


Dear Christina
It's a stupid old hoax.
If you fell for the hoax, you can restore that file from your original 
Windows installation disk. It's a standard Windows file and part 
of any normal Windows installation.

If you don't have your Windows installation CD handy, don't worry 
about it. Only Java programmers actually need that file, and they 
would not fall for that hoax, since they are familiar with that file. 

You might want to warn your friends that some bozo is sending 
that old Teddybear hoax around again, and that they should take 
anything coming from that bozo with a big grain of salt. 
If he fell for THAT old hoax, he will fall for all kinds of other 
nonsense too.

To recognize a hoax, keep in mind that McAfee, Norton, AVP, etc. 
would not rely on some dopey bozo to spread the news by 
BCC chain letter. They do automatic updates of their anti-virus 
programs.

Because of the bozo infestation in certain cities, I put two links 
into the side menu of the Humor Letter about 5 years ago. 
Scoot down the menu to just below the Thesaurus. 
There you see 
Virus Hoaxes
and below that
Urban Legends

If you click on Virus Hoaxes you'll get directly to a page with 
tons of hoaxes listed alphabetically, in tiny print to make them 
all fit on the page. As far as I remember, the jdbmanager hoax 
is the 4th from the top in the second column, or thereabouts.

Maybe some day when you are bored, you could skim through 
those virus hoaxes to get familiar with them. 
Some are quite a hoot, and the more familiar you get with them,
the sillier and funnier they will be to read !


Have FUN
DearWebby