A few days ago I received an e-mail from a friend warning of a new Java virus on the Web called Mr Bean. According to this e-mail, the Mr Bean virus is extremely dangerous, can corrupt my system and even damage my hard disk physically.
The scary part is that it is supposed to reside on Web sites and can be picked up by just about anyone visiting that site and making use of its Java capabilities.
While I take any warning about a virus threat seriously, this one set off some other alarm bells. The structure of the message was strikingly similar to one that I received quite a while ago about a virus called Good Times. As you pointed out in one of your columns, the Good Times virus was a hoax.
Is the Mr Bean virus a hoax, too? Are Java viruses that reside on Web sites and pounce on you also a myth? JONATHAN COOMBES Mid-Levels Other than the chain of coffee bars of that name, and the character played by British comedian Rowan Atkinson, I have not come across a Mr Bean, virus or otherwise. I hope you did not forward that virus warning to anyone else. It does sound like a hoax and the dissemination of these hoax warnings on the Net by well-intentioned individuals such as your friend does much more harm than good.
In some cases the recommended protection methods would kill your computer. And, if nothing else, they are an incredible waste of time.
The language and origin, can give you clues about the nature of the message, i.e. is it a hoax or not? You can also do your own searches on the Web for the name of the supposed virus. You can do what you did by writing in to me or asking someone who may know, before panicking and sending the warning off to dozens of other friends who will only repeat the process ad infinitum.