Dear All,
A word of explanation about viruses etc. and the m-d-n list.
The molecular-dynamics-news list uses the jiscmail service.
Like most such services, jiscmail tries very hard to have up-to-date
virus scanners that strip out any suspect material from messages it
distributes. However, there is invariably a short interval (usually
only hours) between a virus being released "into the wild" and
virus scanning software catching up with it, and during that time
a virus may get through.
The fact that a message arrives flagged as having contained a virus
doesn't _usually_ mean that the virus actually reached your machine.
In particular, if a virus is stripped out at the originator's site,
there isn't a virus for jiscmail to spot and the stripped-down message
may get through.
Another security precaution that's already in place is that only
registered list members are allowed to post to the list at all.
However, since "From" addresses on virus messages are often spoofed,
the fact that a virus message appears to come from a particular person
does not necessarily mean that their machine is the one that's infected.
Having said all that, there have been a couple of messages with zipped
attachments that got through in the last few days. These may well have
contained viruses: I'm not about to open them to find out.
So... I have now (reluctantly) configured the list to reject
attachments altogether. I hope this doesn't cramp anyone's style.
But also, please: if you want to contact the list administrator (me),
please send the message to me, not to the whole list. The
administrator's address is
[log in to unmask]
Please don't use [log in to unmask] unless you're
writing something you believe to be of interest to the whole
membership of nearly 2000 people.
Let's keep this a high-quality, low-junk list.
Thanks,
Jeremy Hutson
--
Prof. J. M. Hutson
Dept. of Chemistry
University of Durham
Durham Tel. (0191) 334 2147 (UK)
DH1 3LE Tel. +44 191 334 2147 (International)
England FAX: +44 191 384 4737
World-Wide Web home page: http://www.dur.ac.uk/j.m.hutson/
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