Bill writes:

<<But when exactly is the Anti Virus software supposed to warn you.>>

There are many pseudo-virus hoaxes floating around.   I was concerned
recently to receive an apparent virus attachment which my up-to-date McAfee
did not pick up.  Further enquiries showed that it was not a genuine virus,
but a hoax.  If your a-v files are up to date and the file is not reported
dangerous, chances are it's a hoax and harmless.  It seems there are many
more hoaxes than real viruses.

I knew my McAfee was working because, for the first time in 4 years, it did
actually pick up a possibly infected email attachment a few days ago---at
least it threw up a warning.  That gladdened me no end, because, as you
say, one can not be quite sure  the thing really is working until it
actually does pick up something.

<<Why do I continually feel we are not being well served by these AV
programs?>>

You can test your a-v program by downloading a dummy virus test file from
the McAfee site (and probably the Norton site).  This file is virus-like
but harmless and is designed to test your a-v alertness.  You can download
it and email it to yourself as an attachment.

Don Penlington
Visit my Web pages: http://www.geocities.com/donaldpen/
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