On Mon, 5 Dec 1994, Joan Korenman wrote:
 
>> Yes, I know that it is quite possible that these warnings are simply hoaxes
>> or computer folklore, but better safe than sorry.
>         I've always been told that viruses are not transmitted via email
> messages but rather through executable files that one downloads via ftp or
> transfers from a floppy disk.  Is that incorrect?  Can a normal text
> message communicate a virus via email?
 
If you were sent a MIME message that included, say, a display
PostScript attachment, *and* your system imposed no security
restrictions on such displays, then it is possible someone could send
you mail that caused a harmful program to be run.  But you know, I've
never *seen* a mail program that even *supported* these features.  I
know they exist, but they're not exactly common.  So unless you're
among the technological elite AND you haven't fixed the security holes
in your mailer, just read your mail, even if the subject *is* "Good
times."  Maybe the subject is real, and the message has a good joke!
(Could be a bad joke, too, in which case you risk polluting your mind,
a more serious risk than formatting your hard disk ... )
 
Norm