VIRUS WARNING / HOAX EMAILS. "Can't do any harm to pass this on - Just in case"

The Internet is crawling with frankly pretty obvious hoax emails.
Ranging from virus warnings to offers of free computers from Bill Gates "if you send this on...." etc.

It is safe to say that ALL of these sorts of 'warnings' / 'offers' are hoaxes,
AND more dangerously may actually carry infections and worms and other malicious code themselves.

If you take the time to look at the wording you will usually sense that they are bogus.
They are almost ALWAYS badly written and illogical; especially those that purport to come
'STRAIGHT FROM MICROSOFT!' or some other legit company.
(Needless to say no company logo is usually present! - bit of a giveaway doncha think? )
They also tend to claim to be very timely: 'RECEIVED JUST TODAY'
--- I saw this phrase on a hoax email I received recently, that I first got sent 10 years ago!

Your friends may not thank you forwarding an obvious hoax email to them because you couldn't
be bothered to actually read it properly!

By the way,  it is considered BAD 'netiquette' to re broadcast an email
without first checking it for authenticity.

Easy to check for authenticity:
Type a phrase from the email - in quotes - into Google and you will probably see articles on it
E.g. "Bill Gates will give you a free computer"  

People often think, "It’s probably just a hoax, but, Oh well, just in case"- CLICK!

There is NEVER a 'just in case' justification for these things!
They are ALMOST ALWAYS hoaxes (check them, as above, if you seriously doubt this!)

REMEMBER, as I said before these useless emails may actually contain virus
and other harmful code, so you do absolutely NO FAVOURS to anyone by passing them on!

QUOTE from McAffee (virus software maker)
".....There are a lot of viruses out there. But some aren't really out there at all. Virus hoaxes are more than mere annoyances, as they may lead some users to routinely ignore all virus warning messages, leaving them vulnerable to a genuine, destructive virus. Next time you receive an urgent virus warning message, be sure to check the list of known virus hoaxes below. Remember: Never open an email attachment unless you know what it is--even if it's from someone you know and trust. Remember that virus writers can use known hoaxes to their advantage. For example, AOL4FREE began as a hoax virus warning. Then somebody distributed a destructive trojan attached to the original hoax virus warning! The lessons are clear: Always remain vigilant Never open a suspicious attachment........"

There are many websites dedicated to documenting and exposing SPAM and other HOAX email.
Many Commercial Virus software sites will have pages dedicated to this annoying issue:

Very good site: http://www.hoax-slayer.com

or...

http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp