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To: Gottfried who wrote (24940)	1/24/2002 4:18:31 PM
From: thecow	Respond to of 110653

Gottfried I guess there is no real solution to the virus/exe/vbs/scr/doc/etc. problem. We need to send docs and xls files which are ripe with macros as well as an occasional exe. Your friends may acknowledge sending you an exe and if they aren't running antivirus software they may have no idea that they have sent you an email bomb. Common sense when dealing with downloads and virus protection is, IMO, the rational way to go. tc

To: Gottfried who wrote (24940)	1/24/2002 4:42:01 PM
From: bosquedog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110653

I have a great one called christmas.exe vil.mcafee.com;

To: Gottfried who wrote (24940)	1/24/2002 4:44:00 PM
From: Bill Fischofer	Respond to of 110653

Re: "Friends" That's precisely how viruses propagate. You get a christmas.exe from "someone you know" who's been infected. Because it comes "from a friend" you run it and now you're infected too. Virus propagation depends on human gullibility as much as technical finesse. Friends can send christmas.gif, christmas.rm, christmas.mpg, etc. and you're perfectly safe because all they're sending you is data. There is zero need to package such stuff as executables. As far as "corrupted files" goes, replacing a system binary with one gotten "from a friend" rather than using the system's built-in integrity check/repair facilities is asking for trouble. Sorry, but I still see no legitimate need ever to transmit a .exe file via e-mail.