Beware of attachments! Can forwarded text messages have viruses?

With all due respect to S DE and that person's attempt to warn us of a
possible virus --- wouldn't it be better to simply include the TEXT of that
warning as the TEXT of an email message, RATHER than sending it as an
attachment?  I am VERY CAUTIOUS about opening attachments, even more so from
someone I don't know because the sender might be a sincere person who
doesn't know that someone else planted a virus inside that attachment.... If
a nasty third person wanted to spread a virus, what better way would there
be than to plant it inside a message attachment warning about viruses, and
send that message on to an unsuspecting innocent person who might then
unknowingly pass it on.

Re-reading my message, it  does sound paranoid, doesn't it? Except that
these exact tactics HAVE been done, and recently, and attachments are the
way they are done. (Unless a "text" attachment can't do it, but I would need
more clarification on that.)


In any case, to S DE, I mean no disrespect, and I applaud your efforts to
warn the WSN list of a possible virus, but I won't open the attachment. I
just deleted it.

Cheers,

Alan Spector