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More info on virus / Admin reminder
A few more details on the virus in the Postdoc Position Ad. Thanks to
Dick Pastore for alerting us all so promptly!
The particular virus in the document is known as "WM.CAP" and it is a
Word Macro Virus. The file attached to the message is a Microsoft
Word document; if you decoded it and then opened it in Microsoft Word
6.x (Mac) or Microsoft Word 95 (Windows), it will have infected your
system unless you have specifically installed protection from such
viruses. These viruses are not particularly threatening, but should
be eradicated none-the-less.
One symptom of being infected by any Word macro virus (I believe) is
that all your Word documents become "templates", since only templates
can carry the macro-language routines that constitute the virus. On
the Mac, templates have a different icon with a right-pointing arrow
on them. When you try to "Save As..." a document, the plain document
format is disabled - you're obliged to save it as a template.
If you don't run Word 6.x or Word 95, or if you didn't decode the
attached file and view in one of those versions of Word, you are in no
danger of being infected. If you are infected, or think you might be,
you can find disinfection tools and information at the following web
addresses:
Microsoft has a page describing the general problem of Word macro
viruses at
http://www.microsoft.com/word/freestuff/mvtool/virusinfo.htm
including a downloadable tool to protect yourself from infection, and
to scan for and remove at least one virus of this kind. I don't know
if it removes the WM.CAP virus, but it probably does.
You can learn more about this particular virus on the web at
http://www.drsolomon.com/vircen/valerts/wmcap.html
or by searching for "WM.CAP" in your favourite internet search
engine. This page is part of the Dr.Solomon Anti-Virus Toolkit site;
I use their software on my Mac and it caught the virus very
efficiently. It also "cured" the file so I was able to open it in
Word without danger. I can confirm that the message is simply the
same context as the plain-text version of the original message, which
I repeat below in case you are reluctant to view the original message.
*
While I have you all on the line, let me repeat the "aperiodic admin
reminder":
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Subject: Aperiodic admin reminder
From: Dan Ellis <dpwe@ICSI.BERKELEY.EDU>
Here's a reminder of some administration details for the email list
AUDITORY@VM1.MCGILL.CA:
Messages for the entire list should be sent to AUDITORY@VM1.MCGILL.CA
(case doesn't matter). As an "anti-spam" measure, the Listserver will
reject messages if it doesn't recognize the "From:" address in your
message as exactly matching one of the list recipients. Regrettably,
this results in a lot of false alarms; if you have trouble posting,
please just let me know so I can fix your address.
Requests to be removed from the list, notifications of changed
details, or inquiries from people wishing to join the list should
be sent to me at:
auditory-request@vm1.mcgill.ca
which is simply forwarded to dpwe@icsi.berkeley.edu .
The biographical database as well as an archive of postings are
available on the web and via ftp. The entire member database
(over 700k, plain ascii text) is at:
ftp://sound.media.mit.edu/pub/AUDITORY/member-list
This page should probably be treated as privacy-sensitive, so please
don't make web links to it. It is 'hidden' from casual browsing.
The home page for the list is:
http://sound.media.mit.edu/AUDITORY/
which includes links to the postings archives, as well a few other
resources. (The postings archives are also available
in the same FTP directory as the member-list, in files named
postings-1993, postings-1994 etc.)
-- DAn Ellis <dpwe@icsi.berkeley.edu> http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/~dpwe/
International Computer Science Institute Berkeley CA
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Here is the original text of the postdoc announcement, which
matches the content of the virus-infected document.
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Functional MRI of Human Auditory Cortex
Georgetown Institute for Cognitive and Computational Sciences
Washington, DC
A postdoctoral position is available in the Laboratory of Integrative
Neuroscience and Cognition of the Georgetown Institute for Cognitive and
Computational Sciences (GICCS) to perform functional magnetic resonance
imaging of the higher auditory pathways in humans. A brand-new 1.5T
Siemens Vision scanner is available, including Medx and BrainVoyager
software, as well as SGI and other workstations. A psychoacoustics lab
for the development of acoustic stimuli exists as well. The main thrust
of our research is to investigate the neural coding of complex sounds,
including speech, in functionally specialized areas of the human
auditory cortex, and to explore the hypothesis of dual processing
streams for auditory space and auditory patterns in the higher auditory
pathways. Parallel studies are being performed in animal models,
including awake behaving primates, using single-unit neurophysiology and
optical intrinsic signal imaging. Candidates with substantial knowledge
of psychoacoustics preferred. Knowledge of imaging techniques desirable
but not required (training can be provided).
GICCS is located in a new research building on the handsome campus of
Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Georgetown University is one of
the oldest academic institutions in North America and has a strong
commitment to the neurosciences. Various collaborative ties exist with
researchers at the nearby National Institutes of Health in Bethesda,
Maryland, and with the University of Maryland. Please send applications
(c.v. and names of two referees) to: Prof. Josef P. Rauschecker, GICCS,
NRB, WP15, 3970 Reservoir Road NW, Washington DC, 20007-2197; e-mail:
josef@helix.nih.gov or rauscheckerj@giccs.georgetown.edu).
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