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Maggie's right, Bill.... There are no "email virus'," however, there CAN be attachments added to an email which can pass on a virus IF executed. I work for Microsoft, and following is the latest virus warnings they sent to our staff. Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] ------------------------------------------------------------------ New Virus Generates Random E-mail by Yardena Arar, PC World (February 21, 1997) -- Microsoft Word and MS Mail users, beware. The latest twist in computer viruses is one that spreads itself by sending e-mail randomly to people on a user's mailing list--along with an infected document. Because any active Word document can be sent, the virus could transmit confidential information as well as the infection itself. And because the e-mail typically arrives from a friend or associate, with the subject line "You've Got to Read This," unsuspecting recipients are likely to click on the Word attachment--thereby infecting their copy of Word and starting the cycle all over again, said officials at McAfee Associates, specialists in antivirus software. McAfee disclosed details about the so-called ShareFun virus after it was reported by an unnamed corporate client earlier this week. A new, prerelease version of McAfee's VirusScan--available for download at McAfee's Web site--can identify and purge the virus. Like the highly publicized Concept virus that infects Microsoft Word documents, the ShareFun virus is written in the macro language used by Word 7 and earlier versions. Also like Concept, it typically travels as an infected Word document attached to e-mail. It is activated when the recipient clicks on the attachment, and from then on infects every Word document created or edited by the user. The difference is that one out of every four times the virus is activated (by editing a Word document), it will seek out MS Mail on the user's machine, choose three names from the mailing list, and send each of them e-mail with a copy of the active Word document. If MS Mail is not present on the user's machine, the virus does not generate e-mail, but it still can be transmitted by infected Word documents sent in any e-mail program. Microsoft Office Group product manager Tom Williams noted that the virus does not affect Microsoft Exchange or Word 97, which uses a different macro language from Word 7. Jimmy Kuo, director of antivirus research at McAfee Associates, said that while he's seen an entire corporate network paralyzed by an e-mail generating virus, ShareFun's threat has more to do with sending sensitive documents to the wrong people. "It's more the situation of confidential information and documents getting out," Kuo said. Williams said users can minimize the dangers of ShareFun and other viruses by observing a few common-sense basics. "The ways you need to protect yourself haven't changed," he said. "Be careful when you open attachments--make sure you know whom it came from and why they sent it. Use tools (available at Microsoft's site) to scan Word, and make sure you install a National Computer Security Association-certified antivirus application." ---------- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Maggie Heeger Sent: Thursday, March 13, 1997 4:29 PM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: Re: virus warning: Fwd: Read carefully (fwd) Bill Rogers wrote: > > A good reliable friend of mine sent this message to me today > March 13th so am sending it on to you to safeguard your > equipment just in case you get one of the messages. > (snipped the rest) This may be a good reliable friend, but your friend was taken in by a scam. There's no way to get a virus from email...it has to be an