To all of my correspondents:

It's the silly season again, and virus hoaxes are being spread by
well-meaning, but gullible people.  BEFORE cluttering up the ether
with virus warnings, please do your research.

If there really is a new virus out there that nobody knew about, it
will be reported in the legitimate Computer Press on the internet,
followed by hard copy in your newspaper.  The recent Melissa was such
an example.

An example of the legitimate Computer Press is ZDNET,
available as a subscription channel from the Start button on Win 98, or
at http://www.zdnet.com/

To determine whether or not the virus warning you have received from
your gullible correspondents are real, check them out at:

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
http://www.kumite.com/myths/
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/bulletins/h-05.shtml

Viruses are real. I use Norton Anti-Virus to protect my system. It
works, but only if you install BEFORE you get a virus.

Thanks,

Tom Perrin