virii from MIME digests?

[Renee Rosen <lilitu@cjnetworks.com>]

[I'm CC:ing this to lovehounds as well as emailing this, in case anyone is
worried now about getting a virus from the digests. Also, just in case I
make a big mistake in this post, maybe someone will catch it. *grin*]

I saw your post to Lovehounds, and I wondered why you were so worried about
MIME digests giving you a virus. (FWIW, I've been downloading them since
they changed formats, and I have had no troubles with viruses--I also
haven't been seeing them as MIME digests.) Anyway, I just wanted to
reassure you that you can't get a virus from MIME digests unless there is a
program attached (i.e., an executable file) *and* you run it. Downloading
it will *not* give you a virus. Data files, such as text or pictures,
cannot contain virii--with the one exception of the Word Macro Virii, which
are spread in Word files. (They're also interesting because they are the
only cross-platform virii--i.e., they can be spread between Macs and PCs.)
So basically you are safe when you download a MIME digest, since I haven't
seen anyone attach either a Word file or an executable (.exe) file to the
list.

If you are really worried anyway, you should download one of those virus
checkers that checks the things you download. When a friend of mine *did*
send me some Word documents that were infected, both the virus checker I
use at work (Norton) and the one I use at home (McAffee) detected them as
they were downloading *and* disinfected them after prompting me for action.
That way in the slight chance that someone did attach an infected file to
the list, you would be protected. (I can only recommend what virus programs
I've used on Windows 3.x and 95, not Mac, though I'm sure there's a Mac
user here who can help you.)

There's a good page on virus myths that you should check out, since I think
it would assuage some of your fear of virii. It's called "Virus myths" and
is at <http://www.kumite.com/myths/>. 

Hope this is of some help!
--'--,-{@  --,--'-{@  --'--,-{@
Renee Rosen                             "Transylvanian Concubine,
lilitu@cjnetworks.com                    You know what flows here like wine.
Goddess in Training                      Stay here with us, it's just time.
Astrud and Kitto on irc                  Transylvanian Concubine."
http://www.cjnetworks.com/~lilitu                    --Rasputina
                                               @}-,--'--  @}-'--,--  @}-,--'--