THE LOVE BUG

The so-called "Love Bug" virus seems to have causedquite a scare recently.  Viruses of this type have been with us for many years now and simple, basic precautions will help you to prevent infecting your computer.  The point is not to panic.  It is still okay to open your email programme, and it is quite safe to read your email messages.  However, if the message is not from somebody that you trust, do NOT open any attachments (from the paperclip icon on the upper left corner of your message window in MSIE) that may come with the message.  This rule does not only apply to this Lovebug virus, but to all viruses. 

The difference here is that many trojan horse type viruses will appear to actually come from people you do trust, even if they themselves did not send them - once they have the virus it can send itself out via their email system - the thing here is not to open an attachment within an email message entitled "I Love You", containing the message "kindly check the attached LOVELETTER coming from me".  It has always been sensible NOT to open attachments from people you do not trust (even those from your closest friends are not guaranteed safe), and this precaution is only reinforced by this latest fiasco.  I assume that most of you have anti-virus software on your computer. 

If you do not already have anti-virus software on your computer, then there are links to free software programmes on my ANTIVIRUS PAGE.  I recommend Symantec's Norton Antivirus and McAfee VirusScan, but there are others out there that will do just as good a job.  Finally, do make sure that your software is UP TO DATE.  So many of my clients have assured me that their computers are safe as they have AV software, yet it may have been installed 12-18 months prior and is now out of date.  The point is, new viruses are coming out every day, and older versions of AV software may not protest against them all.  Norton and McAfee, among others, are upgradable free, from the internet.