With all the devastation computer viruses can exact, savvy e-mail users generally do not take warnings about viruses lightly. However, some warnings may do more damage than good. Last month, Denise Pinson, a recent student at Cape Fear Community College, received a forwarded e-mail message warning that she may have received an e-mail virus that sends itself to everyone listed in her address book. The e-mail gave simple instructions to locate the virus sulfnbk.exe on her hard drive and delete it prior to the virus being able to wreak any havoc on her computer. The message also asked her to forward the e-mail to everyone in her address book. Not conceiving the message could be a hoax, Pinson deleted what she thought to be a computer virus. Unfortunately, she discovered that what she had actually deleted was a necessary Windows system file used to restore long file names. Pinson was not the only one. In the past year, thousands of people around the world have also made the same mistake. Lycos, a widely used search engine, noted in early June 2001 that sulfnbk.exe was the second most popular search phrase. TheWeb site http://vmyths.com contains information on computer virus hoaxes and legends, and it has traced the sulfnbk.exe message back to April 2001. A helpful resource for investigating questionable e-mail, http://www.symantec.com offers to check any suspicious e-mails submitted for inspection. The site also references other e-mail hoaxes commonly encountered by e-mail users. One message about the postal service trying to charge a fee for sending e-mail has been circulating for years.

Users should visit http://www.symantec.com or a comparable site with credible information about viruses prior to taking steps to delete anything from their hard drive, said Laurie Patterson, a lecturer within the computer science department.

Patterson said there are several signs an e-mail virus threat is actually a hoax, with the first being that the message has been forwarded. She also suggested that the messages would not quote a major anti-virus program like Norton Anti-Virus. Patterson said a hoax message’s tone usually sounds more like that of a nice message letting people know about a problem.

“(Virus hoaxes aren’t really on the rise). It may feel that way because (more) viruses are making news, and people are starting to react,” Patterson said.

The only exception, she said, is the sulfnbk.exe hoax, which seems to be increasing as users forward it on.

Many anti-virus Web sites say that hoax e-mails commonly ask the recipient to e-mail as many people as possible. Authentic virus warnings sent from an official company will not ask anyone to forward the message or otherwise attempt to contribute to causing mass panic. If e-mail users are concerned about the authenticity of a virus threat, users should check for a link to more information about the virus in the body of the message