Forwarded Virus Email Hoaxes

You might have received a panicky sounding email in the past describing how some terrible virus is wreaking havoc on the web.

The message usually says something about how an email is going around tricking unsuspecting email users into running it. Once it runs, it steals your identity, fries your hard drive, and eats small pets.

Then the message usually goes on to say something about how the pet eating computer virus been verified by snopes.com or some other authority.

Typically, forwarding messages like these only accomplishes wasting the time of the message recipients. It’s usually better to delete the message instead of forwarding it on.

It's also a pet peeve of mine. 

If you do a little research to validate the claims in the message, you’ll usually find them to be false or grossly over exaggerated.

Tips On Preventing Virus Infections:

• Avoid downloading files from sources you don’t know you can trust
• Make sure all the latest Windows updates have been applied.
• Have an anti-virus program installed, up to date, and performs regular system scans.
• Scan downloaded files with an anti-virus program before opening them.
• Save and scan email attachments with an anti-virus program before opening them.
• Be cautious when clicking on links in email, or avoid clicking on email links altogether.

It's usually a good idea to have your computer set to download and install Windows updates automatically. However, sometimes the updates need a little bit if interaction on your part before it can be installed.

When the updates are ready to be installed, you should see a notification icon in your system tray (the icons in the lower right hand corner of the screen).

To begin installing the updates, double click on the notification icon. Downloaded updates are also usually applied when the computer is shutdown.

Many anti-virus programs set an option up in some of the system menus that allows you to scan individual files. To scan a file after it has been downloaded or an attachment after it has been saved, right click the file, and select your anti-virus program from the popup menu.