Garg and jO, it doesn't seem to me to be any of the top 10, all of which seem to work in Windows or Word (or MS Office, which includes Word). None are specifically mentioned as capable of infecting Mac systems, although Macs can serve as a vector: a Mac user could forward an infected e-mail without being infected. My only contact with Microsoft is when I get connected to Internet Explorer via a web search (I tossed out AOL 4.0 when I saw that it used Internet Explorer--I went back to 3.0 which uses Excite). My word processor is Claris Works, which I also use for graphics and database functions.

I'm not absolutely certain it was a virus, although it certainly acted like one. Your suggestion that it might be BO seems to be ruled out, again, by the fact that I have no Office nor other MS products. What is it about Word that makes it so vulnerable to viral infections? Can't Bill Gates put one of his multi-billions of bucks to work protecting his customers (why does he have customers at all if his products are so subject to infection? So he can sell anti-viri?). We Macintosh users generally feel we are the cyber god's chosen people and can't for the life of us understand why anyone would stick with Windows. Join the revival, folks--how can you resist a cuddly little i-Mac or a Windows crunching G-3 or G-4 tower ?

--seed