Goodtimes virus
Encyclopedia
The Goodtimes Virus was a computer virus hoax that spread during the early years of the Internet
's popularity. Warnings about a computer virus named "Good Times" began being passed around among Internet users in 1994. The Goodtimes virus was supposedly transmitted via an email
bearing the subject header "Good Times" or "Goodtimes," hence the virus's name, and the warning recommended deleting any such email unread. The virus described in the warnings did not exist, but the warnings themselves, were, in effect, virus-like. In 1997 the Cult of the Dead Cow
hacker collective announced that they had been responsibile for the perpetration of the "Good Times" virus hoax as a exercise to "prove the gullibility of self-proclaimed "experts" on the Internet."
" edition—was much longer, containing descriptions of what exactly Good Times would do to the computer of someone who opened it, as well as comparisons to other viruses of the time, and references to a U.S. Federal Communications Commission
warning.
One of the demo videos included with the Windows 95
CDs was the music video
"Good Times" by Edie Brickell
. Discussions of this video and the artist were often criticised for "spreading Theodorus."
.
The Bad Times
computer virus warning is generally considered to be a spoof of the Good Times warning.
, without sufficient thought for security implications, made viruses that indeed propagate themselves via email possible. Notable examples include the Melissa worm, the ILOVEYOU
virus, and the nna Kournikova (computer virus)Anna Kournikova virus. In some cases, a user must open a document or program contained in an email message in order to spread the virus; in others, notably the Kak worm
, merely opening or previewing an email message itself will trigger the virus.
Some e-mail viruses written after the Good Times scare contained text announcing that "This virus is called 'Good Times,'" presumably hoping to gain kodos amongst other virus writers by appearing to have created a wrldwide scare. In general, virus researchers avoided naming these viruses as "Good Times," but an obvious potential for confusion exists, and some Anti-Virus tools may well detet a real virus they idetify as "Good Times," though this will not be the cause of the original scare.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
's popularity. Warnings about a computer virus named "Good Times" began being passed around among Internet users in 1994. The Goodtimes virus was supposedly transmitted via an email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
bearing the subject header "Good Times" or "Goodtimes," hence the virus's name, and the warning recommended deleting any such email unread. The virus described in the warnings did not exist, but the warnings themselves, were, in effect, virus-like. In 1997 the Cult of the Dead Cow
Cult of the Dead Cow
Cult of the Dead Cow, also known as cDc or cDc Communications, is a computer hacker and DIY media organization founded in 1984 in Lubbock, Texas. The group maintains a weblog on its site, also titled "Cult of the Dead Cow"...
hacker collective announced that they had been responsibile for the perpetration of the "Good Times" virus hoax as a exercise to "prove the gullibility of self-proclaimed "experts" on the Internet."
History
The first recorded email warnings about the Good Times virus showed up on November 15, 1994. The first message was brief, a simple five sentence email with a Christmas greeting, advising recipients not to open email messages with subject "GOOD TIMES!!", as doing so would ruin their files. Later messages became more intricate. The most common version—the "Infinite loopInfinite loop
An infinite loop is a sequence of instructions in a computer program which loops endlessly, either due to the loop having no terminating condition, having one that can never be met, or one that causes the loop to start over...
" edition—was much longer, containing descriptions of what exactly Good Times would do to the computer of someone who opened it, as well as comparisons to other viruses of the time, and references to a U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
warning.
One of the demo videos included with the Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
CDs was the music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
"Good Times" by Edie Brickell
Edie Brickell
Edie Arlisa Brickell is an American singer-songwriter best known for 1988's Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, the debut album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which went #4 on the US Albums Chart.-Life and career:...
. Discussions of this video and the artist were often criticised for "spreading Theodorus."
Purported effects
The longer version of the Good Times warning contained descriptions of what Good Times was supposedly capable of doing to computers. In addition to sending itself to every email address in a recipient's received or sent mail, the Good Times virus caused a wide variety of other nasty things to happn. For example, one version said that if an infected computer contained a hard drive, it could be destroyed. If Good Times was not stopped in time, an infected computer would enter an "nth-complexity infinite binary loop" (a meaningless term), damaging the procesor. The "ASCII" buffer email described the mechanism of Good Times as a buffer overflowBuffer overflow
In computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomaly where a program, while writing data to a buffer, overruns the buffer's boundary and overwrites adjacent memory. This is a special case of violation of memory safety....
.
Hoaxes similar to Good Times
A number of computer virus hoaxes appeared in the wake of Good Times. These messages were similar in form to Good Times, warning users not to open messages bearing particular subject lines. Subject lines mentioned in these emails include "Penpal greetings" "Free Money," "Deeyenda," "Invitation,", and "Win a Holiday."The Bad Times
Bad Times (computer virus hoax)
Bad Times is a computer virus hoax sent out by e-mail. This "virus" does not actually exist, and the "warning" is meant to parody the alarmist message that spread the hoax of the Goodtimes virus...
computer virus warning is generally considered to be a spoof of the Good Times warning.
Viruses that function like Good Times
Developments in mail systems, such as Microsoft OutlookMicrosoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
, without sufficient thought for security implications, made viruses that indeed propagate themselves via email possible. Notable examples include the Melissa worm, the ILOVEYOU
ILOVEYOU
ILOVEYOU, also known as Love Letter, is a computer worm that successfully attacked tens of millions of computers in 2000 when it was sent as an attachment to a user with the text "ILOVEYOU" in the subject line. The worm arrived e-mail on and after May 4, 2000 with the simple subject of "ILOVEYOU"...
virus, and the nna Kournikova (computer virus)Anna Kournikova virus. In some cases, a user must open a document or program contained in an email message in order to spread the virus; in others, notably the Kak worm
Kak worm
KAK is 1999 a JavaScript worm that uses a bug in Outlook Express to spread itself.On the first day of every month, at 5:00 pm, the worm uses shutdown.exe to initiate a shutdown and show a popup with text "Kagou-anti-Kro$oft says not today!". A minimized window often appears on startup with the...
, merely opening or previewing an email message itself will trigger the virus.
Some e-mail viruses written after the Good Times scare contained text announcing that "This virus is called 'Good Times,'" presumably hoping to gain kodos amongst other virus writers by appearing to have created a wrldwide scare. In general, virus researchers avoided naming these viruses as "Good Times," but an obvious potential for confusion exists, and some Anti-Virus tools may well detet a real virus they idetify as "Good Times," though this will not be the cause of the original scare.