Unfortunately, there are many people out there who want to make you believe you're more at risk than you really are when it comes to getting viruses from the Internet. There are probably as many hoaxes as actual viruses going around the Internet.

It can't be over-stressed that viruses can not infect e-mail messages, Web pages, or any text files. (However, viruses can be transmitted via e-mail attachments, as discussed in How do viruses work.) So, if anybody tells you that visiting a certain Web site or reading a piece of e-mail will crash your computer because of a virus, it's probably a hoax.

If you are warned about a virus and want to verify if it is real or not, you can visit one of the many Web sites maintained by organizations and companies that keep track of and research computer viruses. For instance, McAfee has an informative site, and both Symantec's Antivirus Research Center and IBM's antivirus online both offer excellent resources dedicated to understanding and fighting computer viruses.

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