Protect Yourself from Virus Hoaxes and Myths

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Aug 10, 2001

1) Is the message regarding the hoax from a genuine expert? If its been forwarded over and over again and finally gets to you through your cousin Billy, it's likely a hoax.

2) Does the message urge you to forward it to everyone you know? According the Vmyths, genuine messages will not ask you distribute it to others.

3) Does the message come with a link to a legitimate resource for information? Virus alerts won't go into detail about the virus but will instead offer you a link to get more information. Vmyths does report that some hoaxes do come with a link but if the link doesn't actually take you to information about the specific virus, then it's likely a hoax.

Protecting your computer from viruses is serious business. Anyone who has gotten a virus knows the embarrassment of spreading it unknowingly and the horrendous task of getting rid of it, which often requires a factory re-set of the machine. At the same time, it's important to not be taken in by hoaxes. For more information on hoaxes and legitimate viruses visit:

Hoaxbusters http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/

Vmyths http://vmyths.com

Symantic (Hoax Information) http://www.symantic.com/avcenter/hoax.ht...

Symantic (Virus Updates) http://www.symantec.com/avcenter

McAffee (Hoax Information) http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp?

McAffee (Virus Updates) http://dispatch.mcafee.com/

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