You have probably received emails from associates warning you to
be aware of a specific "virus"; if you did, you have most likely
been the victim of a virus hoax. The DOT-COMmunications'
helpdesk receives more calls about virus hoaxes than about any
individual real virus. Note: some links on this page will open
in a separate brower window Virus hoaxes are false reports about
usually non-existent viruses, often claiming to do impossible
things. Unfortunately some recipients occasionally believe a
hoax to be a true virus warning and may take drastic action
(such as shutting down their network) or deleting innocent files
from their hard disk. Typically such hoaxes circulate by emails,
which describe a dangerous new undetectable virus, usually using
bogus technical terms. Hoaxes often ask you to avoid reading or
downloading emails that have a particular subject line. Examples
include Budweiser Frogs, It Takes Guts to Say Jesus, and Join
the Crew. For instance, the Good Times hoax claims to put your
computer's CPU