Smart Groups is stalled right now.
 
The hints on SG Support and in the SG daily website notes really reek of
someone having created a virus using zombies and timed attacks against
SG or Wanadoo in general.
 
Right now it is stalled again, but yesterday they warned that another
flood of mail had begun.
 
It is hard to emphasize how important it is for people to run firewalls
(Some of you can and even should consider running sequential ones when
possible, for example, on modem, router, and computer.) and to check for
and remove viruses and worms.  In some current testing an unprotected PC
winds up with malware within 20 minutes on the internet.  Large companies
-- even with protection -- often run a check twice a day these days, at
the beginning and end of business.  How often do you check your computer?
You are no less vulnerable, in fact, you may be more vulnerable.  A lot
of this malware hurts you and your friends by damaging your computer,
or stealing your private information, or subbing in the addresses or
modified addresses of those with whom you communicate.  So, by being
unprotected you are not only failing to protect yourself but you are
hurting those you care about.
 
In the situation where unprotected computers (and if you are not running
are used as zombies your computer's function and your modem time are
being periodically stolen to release spam attacks, and at times these
target only a few places.  When that happens a company of a free service
like Smartgroups winds up suddenly having tens of millions of pieces of
mail arriving beyond the usual mail they handle.  So, they crash, and you
lose a valuable service, or the service has to be reduced while they work
on repairs.  If too much of these sorts of things happen then who knows
if companies will even be able to afford free services in the future due
to maintenance costs.  Then the ones who suffer from loss of resources
are you.
 
As has been mentioned here, we have had to keep down traffic on the FHL
during the repairs from the last mail flood SG had because it simply
could not handle larger amounts of mail; now today it is down again with
hints that zombies (in your computer?) are once again spamming in a
flood, so someone out there who needs health info to save a ferret is
not getting it.  You can do your part to prevent such crashes by running
firewalls and running virus and worm protection software.  PLEASE!
 
Meanwhile, I have the contact information for the Tufts veterinarian,
Joerg Mayer, who is the originator of the lymphoma chemo protocol that
seems to work much better than previous ones, and which is not by IV, but
with the FHL being down I can not post it despite having his permission
to do so there, because even moderator posting is currently down (and
that is usually among the first things returned).  Dr. Ramsell who has
been used for consultation on this has asked that Dr. Mayer be contacted
instead by treating vets for further lympho cases.  If you are among
those who need this for your vet, or if you simply want the information
to pass along to your vet so it can be on file send me a note with the
subject line:
 
SEND JOERG MAYER CONTACT INFO FOR VETERINARIANS
 
and I will tackle all of those in bulk, but sadly I will NOT have time
to answer individual questions and I have not used it so do not know the
answers, anyway, so if any of those exist, please, read up in
 
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
 
-- Sukie (not a vet)
Ferret Health List co-moderator
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives fan
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
replacing
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
International Ferret Congress advisor
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5177]