Klez Worm
The Klez worm is a serious threat to anyone using e-mail. It deletes your programs and e-mails itself to people in your address book.
Although definitions differ, a worm is generally considered a standalone program that spreads via a network. It may require that you open the program for it to work, or it may be able to spread itself without user intervention. A virus, on the other hand, attaches itself to a program and runs when the program is started. Both worms and viruses can replicate themselves, and they generally cause intentional damage to the software on your computer.
The Klez worm arrives as an e-mail attachment. It can only propagate if you open the attachment. Here is a typical example of this worm as it was received with our favorite e-mail program, Eudora. We've replaced the actual e-mail addresses in the header with "xx" to avoid embarrassing innocent people:
X-From_: xx@xx.com Mon May 27 18:55:38 2002 Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 18:55:36 -0700 From: webmaster <xx@paxnet.co.kr> To: support@rtgsoftware.com Subject: A special funny game Content-Type: text/html; This is a very funny game This game is my first work. You're the first player. I expect you would like it. |
The actual threat is the attachment, which was named picacu.exe. However, the subject, the message text, and the name of the attachment all vary. Even the size of the attachment varies, although it always seems to be between 80 and 100K.
Here's another message that arrived with the Klez worm attached. It claims to be a program to stop the worm, and advises you to ignore any virus warnings!
Klez.E is the most common world-wide spreading worm.It's very dangerous by corrupting your files. Because of its very smart stealth and anti-anti-virus technic,most common AV software can't detect or clean it. We developed this free immunity tool to defeat the malicious virus. You only need to run this tool once,and then Klez will never come into your PC. NOTE: Because this tool acts as a fake Klez to fool the real worm,some AV monitor maybe cry when you run it. If so,Ignore the warning,and select 'continue'. If you have any question,please mail to me. |
To protect yourself, be sure you have the latest security updates for your e-mail program. This is especially true of Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, because they are the most frequent target of virus attacks. Older versions could open attachments automatically, which can be disastrous.
The fact that you have this dangerous file on your computer is not a problem so long as you don't open it. You may want to install antivirus software, or other software that checks attachments, like ZoneAlarm, to be sure that you don't open the file by accident.
If you use Eudora, get Version 5.1. It can warn you if you try to open an attachment outside of Eudora. We learned about this new feature after accidentally opening a worm we received while using an earlier version.
RTG Scripts
RTG Scripts is a new product from RTG. RTG Scripts was designed to automate tasks involving RTG Bills and RTG Timer. Scripts are small programs. They can start other programs, choose menu items, enter text, and do other tasks that people normally do.
RTG Scripts comes with a variety of useful scripts. For example, one script looks for problems in the RTG Bills database. It warns you of missing timekeeper initials or abbreviations, clients or matters with no name, rate tables with a zero rate for some timekeepers, and more. The results are presented as a report that you view in your Web browser. Click here to view a sample of this report.
A more complex script checks each matter to see if it is overdue for 30, 60, 90, or 120 days. The number of days is a variable that you set before you run the script. It creates a report (in a text file) for each billing timekeeper with a list of their overdue matters. Optionally, it can send each billing timekeeper an e-mail message containing the report. Click here for a sample.
RTG Scripts uses the Microsoft Windows Script Host, a feature of Windows itself, to execute scripts. The script language is Microsoft's VBScript. Anyone with a knowledge of VBScript can write new scripts. However, we expect that most people will use RTG Scripts to run the scripts that RTG provides.
Features of RTG Scripts
RTG-supplied scripts
Scripts written by RTG are included for immediate use with RTG Bills and RTG Timer.
RTG Scripts can download upgrades from the RTG Web site, in the same way that RTG Bills and RTG Timer can. We expect to offer new scripts as free upgrades.
Report Script Wizard
The Report Script Wizard can create a script to automate any report in RTG Bills, RTG Timer, or RTG Reports. You make the same choices you would make to print the report, such as choosing a matter range or a date range, and those choices become part of the script. Once the script is created, just double-click the script and it generates the report with no further interaction.
Selecting a date works a little differently in the Wizard. Instead of an actual date, such as January 1, 2002, you would specify "the start of this year." Here's what the date selection window looks like after you click the This Year button:
By specifying YearStart instead of the actual date, the script will always supply January 1 of the correct year when you actually use the script to create the report.
Since the script can create a report without user input, the Windows Task Scheduler can run the report for you. You can create reports at night and review them in the morning.
Change variables
A script can be defined to include values that you may wish to change each time you run the script. RTG Scripts gives you an easy way to see the values of these variables and change them, if you wish, before the script is run.
Additional features
RTG Scripts includes programs, subroutines, and functions that a script can use to perform operations that are otherwise difficult or impossible to accomplish in VBScript alone. They will be valuable if you plan to write your own scripts.
An Add-On Product For RTG Bills
We feel that RTG Scripts is a significant enhancement to the power of RTG Bills, RTG Timer, and RTG Reports. We realize, however, that not everyone who uses RTG Bills will need its capabilities, so RTG Scripts will be sold separately.
RTG Scripts will be released soon. If you have purchased RTG Bills and we have a valid e-mail address for you, we'll let you know when it is available. The price will be $75.