Email Viruses and Other Hoaxes
There is now a possibility that your computer can be affected by a virus while reading email — if you are using older versions of Windows (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4, and Windows NT DEC Alpha) with IE5, Outlook, or Outlook Express and the message is in HTML format (which is not supposed to be sent to the list, and is automatically stripped off if it is). The fix for this is at http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/iebuild/scriptlet/en/125795.htm.
Otherwise, the only way a virus can be transferred through email is if it includes an executable attachment, and you execute it.
Before doing a well-intentioned post to the list about the newest virus, modem tax, cookie recipe, or other scare, check the following sites to make sure that you aren’t being conned.
| Site | Address |
|---|---|
| Symantec Anti Virus Research Center | http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html |
| McAfee Associates Virus information | http://www.mcafee.com/centers/anti-virus/default2.asp |
| McAfee Associates Hoax information | http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=hoaxes |
| Urban Legends Reference Pages | http://www.snopes.com |
| Virus, chain-letters, hoaxes and urban legends | http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/ and http://www.hoaxkill.com/ |