"My computer's dead! I must have a virus!" "The mouse froze...oh no, I must have a virus!" "I checked the everything with two different antivirus programs, but my hard drive is still dead. I must have a virus. I have to tell everyone!"
Believe it or not, that last quote was said by a CompuServe user who was also a certified computer technician. Although the description of his situation might indicate that he did not have a virus, he went ahead and posted a message on CompuServe describing his "infection" and its "result'. The 'myth' that he started demonstrates that technical gurus are not necessarily virus gurus too. This technician proves an interesting point, however: how many times have we been told that we had a virus from somebody who really had no idea what they were talking about? This is commonly referred to as "False Authority Syndrome".
Ever heard of the 'Good Times' virus? Then you have been "infected". Messages about this so called virus caused a scare across the Internet when they were read by uninformed users. Even though this virus turned out to be a hoax, it brought up a very interesting point: If people constantly spread and post messages about viruses, even without substantial evidence of its existence, doesn't the simple act of spreading the message become a kind of memetic virus? Isn't that kind of widespread reaction the result that the initiator intended by creating the false warning in the first place?
Here's the Infinite FAQ about the Good Times Virus Hoax:
http://www.infi.net/~wtnewton/vinfo/gtvh_faq.html
Yet another good FAQ about Good Times:
http://www.nsm.smcm.edu/News/GTHoax.html
Page Published March 31, 1996