Good point, Pete. I've received a number of well-intentioned messages from friends lately, apologizing for having sent me a virus and instructing me to delete this or another file from my computer. Usually, I just go to www.google.com and search for the name of the file I'm instructed to delete. So far, it has been a hoax every time.

Usually, I go to symantic.com or mcafee.com, but you can do a limited check for virus information a lot quicker on Google.

I'm wondering about something else. Last week, I got an e-mail that was supposedly from Norton Antivirus, and appeared to have been sent out automatically. It said I had sent such-and-such a virus to so-and-so. So-and-so is not on my e-mail address book, and I have no record of having sent e-mail to this person. I scanned my computer, and there was no virus. Is the e-mail I got another kind of hoax?

-Joe Offer-