Dear GWATTMOTW,

Do not open any message with an attached filed called “Invitation” regardless of who sent it, It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which “burns” the whole hard disc C of your computer.

This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

Sincerely,
Frightened-of-Files

Dear FoF,

Don’t bother forwarding any messages like this. They are always bogus. There is no such virus and, even if there was, chances are that the e-mail with the announcement of the virus will contain the virus itself. If you ever again receive an e-mail like this, trash it and let the person who sent it to you know that no anti-virus company or organization would ever use e-mail to alert the general public of a threat.

Every major virus from the Melissa worm that marked the introduction of widespread computer viruses in 1999 to the SQL Slammer, Sober, Sasser, and Zotob worms to the latest MySpace ad virus have all been announced in the traditional media, not in an e-mail forward, to inform the public at large. You may think there is “no harm” in forwarding this “just in case”. But even if the e-mails are entirely benign, they work to de-sensitize people to the subject of viruses so that, when a real one comes along, it just registers as more noise among the chatter.

My recommendation to anyone concerned with viruses is to ensure their virus protection software is and remains up-to-date and to stop opening e-mail attachments, even from friends and family, unless you absolutely know what is in that attachment (and even then, be wary). E-mail attachments are, by far, the number one way that viruses are spread. The other option if you want to be more virus resistant is to get a Mac or Linux computer since they are not susceptible to a lot of the viruses out there, though they are not entirely immune.

Sincerely, Nick