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| - In 1996, Budweiser beer began offering a free "Budweiser Frogs" screensaver themed after their popular series of commercials.
The following year, warnings began to circulate via e-mail claiming that versions of the Budweiser Frogs screensaver were being distributed which harbored a "very malicious virus," and these warnings continued to circulate widely for several years thereafter:
Virus: Budweiser Frogs screensaver (aka BUDSAVER.EXE)
Example:[Collected via e-mail, 2000]READ ASAP...DO NOT DELETE...VERY IMPORTANT
READ IMMEDIATELY AND PASS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW !
Someone is sending out a very cute screensaver of the Budweiser Frogs.
If you download it, you will lose everything! Your hard drive will crash and someone from the Internet will get your screen name and password!
DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!
It just went into circulation yesterday.
Please distribute this message. This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people know about it. This information was announced yesterday morning from Microsoft. Please share it with everyone that might access the Internet.
Once again, Pass This Along To EVERYONE in your address book so that this may be stopped. AOL has said that this is a very dangerous virus and that there is NO remedy for it at this time.
This is VERY important. If you receive a screen saver from a friend or anyone you may not know with the Budweiser Frogs in it, DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT OR OPEN THE FILE!
Press the forward button on your email program and send this notice to EVERYONE you know. Let's keep our email safe for everyone.
[Collected on the Internet, 2000]
DANGER!!! VIRUS ALERT!!! THIS IS A NEW TWIST. SOME CREEPOID SCAM-ARTIST IS SENDING OUT A VERY DESIRABLE SCREEN-SAVER {{THE BUD FROGS}}. IF YOU DOWN-LOAD IT, YOU'LL LOSE EVERYTHING!!!! YOUR HARD DRIVE WILL KERBLAM..CRASH!!
DON'T DOWNLOAD THIS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!! IT JUST WENT INTO CIRCULATION ON 05/13/97, AS FAR AS I KNOW!!
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS WARNING TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE...
[Collected on the Internet, 1999]
Someone is sending out a very cute screensaver of the Budweiser Frogs. If you download it, you will lose everything! Your hard drive will crash and someone from the Internet will get your screen name and password! DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! It just went into circulation yesterday. Please distribute this message.This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people know about it. This information was announced yesterday morning from Microsoft. Please share it with everyone that might access the Internet.
Once again, Pass This Along To EVERYONE in your address book so that this may be stopped. AOL has said that this is a very dangerous virus and that there is NO remedy for it at this time.
All such warnings were hoaxes: The "virus" they described was not new, malicious, or even real, yet these warnings have been making the rounds of inboxes and social networks nearly non-stop since at least early 1997.
There is not now, nor has there ever been, a widely-distributed virus matching the one described in these warnings.
For additional information, Symantec issued a security response. McAfee also published a similar page, but it was removed years later and did not appear to be archived.
In sum, the Budweiser frogs screensaver virus was a hoax.
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