<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

We recently had a post to the CELIAC list warning about an e-mail virus
that could do all sorts of terrible things to your computer, and the
computers belonging to everyone else who's e-mail addresses you
happened to have on your computer.  I want to inform everyone that this
is a HOAX.  You CANNOT infect your computer with a virus just by
reading an e-mail note.  The only way you can get a virus from an
e-mail note is if it is as an attachment, stored as a separate file on
your computer, and then executed separately.  (If you don't know what I
mean when I refer to an "attachment", then relax; you haven't gotten a
computer virus.)  The only exception to this is a Microsoft Word virus
which can infect your computer by opening an infected Microsoft Word
document.

E-mail messages which claim dire consequences from reading an e-mail
note were written with one goal in mind:  To see how many people
could be fooled into passing the warning note on to others.  One such
note, warning of the so-call GOOD TIMES virus, has been going around
e-mail and usenet circles for years now.  In a sense, by coercing
others to pass on these false warnings, the warnings themselves
become like a virus; they get spread all over the internet and seem to
take on a life of their own.

The best way to defeat these tactics is to recognize them as not being
genuine and to avoid sending them on to others.  When in doubt, get a
second opinion from a trusted computer expert before sending the
warning on.  Or you can visit the U.S. Department of Energy's Computer
Incident Advisory Web page.  The hoax-specific information is at:

   http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html

I know that the note posted to the list about this alleged virus was
done so under the best of intentions.  However, in the future the
listowners would prefer to see such warnings sent to us first so that
we can evaluate whether or not there is a real threat and the best
steps to take to deal with such a threat.  You can send such warnings
to <[log in to unmask]>.  We will advise you if it
is a hoax or if any action is required.

For the CELIAC listowners,

Jim Lyles ........ <[log in to unmask]> ........ Holly, Michigan, USA