Yukon3 Hoax

        "YUKON3U.mp  VIRUS IS ABOUT TO STRIKE THE NEWSGROUPS!"
 Viruses don't "strike Newsgroups".  There are cases where people place messages containing UUencoded or MimeEncoded viruses in news groups but this is deliberate planting not an infection by a virus. (You are in no danger unless you decode and execute the program.) How would someone know that a virus is about to planted in newsgroups unless they are closely associated with the person doing this?  The hoax continues:

     "As many of you know, the amount of viruses that have been posted
     within the past couple of months are tremendous -- now we have 2
     new threats to contend with.

     To continue...  a medium amount of the recent posts in some of the
     Alt.Binaries have contained a time-bomb trojan virus called
     YUKON3U.mp which is a derivative of a 2nd generation Mutating
     Engine developed by the Dark Avenger -- a self-described "King" of
     viruses from Bulgaria."

     "The only difference is that this strain has a stealth capability
     beyond the reach of Norton or McAfee Anti-Virus programs latest
     updates, with the possible, but not probable exception of Dr.
     Soloman's Anti-Virus version 7.69.  The encryption technique is
     incredible."

     The YUKON3U.mp virus is somehow compiled within the UUE code of the
     JPG itself, and when decoded will install the virus onto the boot
     sector of the hard drive,

     "and lie in wait for the trigger date sometime in April (changing
     your internal system clock won't help since the trigger day changes
     with each infection).  The only constant is the month itself.

     The simple fact of decoding the file via a newsreader or
     third-party decoder such as Wincode automatically runs and installs
     the virus without detection, thereby eliminating the wait for
     somebody actually launching the file by accident (we all know
     viruses do nothing unless they're launched)."

     "For all intents and purposes, the JPG is viewable without any
     problems and normal in every way, but there is a second file hiding
     within your boot sector without detection."

     "One of the effects carries a nasty manipulation task which damages
     hardware -- an interrupt call set to a track value beyond 39, which
     will cause the drive heads to move past the inner track of the hard
     drive, causing the heads to stick on some models."

     "That isn't the worst of it.  Untitled posts which contain special
     BOTS that are basically invisible and cannot be seen or read by
     newsgroup readers have also been recently posted according to Dr.
     Soloman's web-site."

     "These BOTS are capable of replacing ASCII characters within all
     posts in the Alt. Binaries newsgroups (i,e. H becomes S, G becomes
     F, and so on).  The BOTS are triggered to alter other user posts by
     certain words contained in the post, or by calling upon the Cancel
     Date of the article ( probably some time in April )."