RE: recent e-mail hoaxes

Dear all

Some of you may already know this, in which I case apologies. For those of
you that don't however, can I just clarify this:

You  c a n n o t  transfer viruses or catch them from e-mails - absolutely
positively not! Any mail that claims otherwise is a hoax.

You can only catch a virus from an e-mail message if that message contains
an executable file attachment. It is the file attachment that carries the
virus - not the e-mail per se. Of course, with MicroS**t now enabling macros
in Outlook 2000, you could get macro viruses for e-mails...

Technically though, you cannot get viruses from e-mails because e-mails only
contain text - and you can't execute text or compile it into an executable
program. Not now - not ever. It is the message itself that is the virus as
it is forwarded so many times, that it clogs mail servers up - as I know
only too well!

I hope that helps clarify these e-mail hoaxes. Feel free to pass this mail
on if you wish. The sooner people are clear about this topic the better.

Regards, Paul.

PS. If you do receive file attachments by mail (esp. in Word or Excel
format), virus check them before opening. Might sound obvious, but you'd be
surprised at how many trashed hard drives I have had to deal with because
the owner had overlooked this little operation!

--------------------------------------
Paul Broome
IT Systems Administrator
UNDP / GEF Programme
Department of Geography
Royal Holloway College
University of London
Egham, Surrey. TW20 0EX, UK.