On a discussion list for list managers at the moment, there is some
discussion of viruses getting to list manager's respective groups. Most of
those discussing the virus question have disabled attachments in the group
settings for their respective groups. However, as you well know, the
attachment function is vital to BoundaryPoint's mission.

A couple of weeks ago I received (privately) an email with an EXE file
attached. I promptly deleted the email. To receive a virus via an
attachment is no big thing as long as the recipient doesn't open it. My
concern, and it may be misplaced, is that since attachments for the list
are allowed, at some point an attached virus may appear in a regular
posting. At that point most members will delete the attachment and carry on
but an occasional member might actually try to run the program causing
damage to that individual's computer.

Such files are easy to identify as they end in .exe, .com .bat or something
like .asf. Receiving such a file only requires that you discard it
immediately after looking at the file. The pictures we send that open
automatically in Outlook Express are rarely a problem though imbedded code
in a jpeg, gif or other graphics files can also cause problems in the
computer that executes these files. The case of imbedded code in a picture
is rare enough to not be a problem. To create imbedded code in a graphics
file is much more trouble than the writers of virus programs want to go to.
The "command" or "Macro" way is much easier and these people are not into
work, just mayhem. The biggest virus problem is the "command" or
"execution" files that can be potentially sent as an email
attachment. Luckily, this type of attachment would seem to be rare for a
BoundaryPoint posting. However, viruses associated with word processing
documents (.doc files in MS Word, for example) could appear in list
postings. Those of you who receive your email through a company network
server should have virus protection in place or you should fire your
systems guy. Moreover, viruses like "Melissa" operate most successfully in
these systems where the word processor program, like Word or Word Perfect
is also your email program. These Word Processors contain utilities called
Macros that while very helpful if you know how to use them, can be also
detrimental if told to do something destructive by a virus program.

Even if you were to actually try to run an attached virus file, a good
virus checker program like Norton or McAfee should catch it immediately (if
up to date) and disable the virus. The caveat here is that you must keep
your antivirus program up to date. Yahoo also has virus protection in place
but nothing is perfectly foolproof.

Let's all be careful out there!