IS IT A VIRUS OR IS IT JUS A HOAX?

As prevalent as computer viruses themselves are, virus hoaxes, that is, e-mails warning about some new virus, are spreading.

Two computer security sites -- www.mcafee.com and www.symantec.com -- have continually updated encyclopedias of virus hoaxes that people can check to see if it's a hoax.

In their own way, hoaxes are as malevolent as viruses because they were designed to clog e-mail systems, according to George Florian of Automated Services in Cape Girardeau.

The way it works is this: Someone gets a hoax e-mail. With good intentions, they forward it to everyone they know. Everyone they know forwards it to everyone they know -- which, if they're at a business, may be mostly the same people that got it the first time.

Hoaxes slow down e-mail systems, Florian said, but cause no damage.

But that doesn't mean they're not trouble.

For one, they can lead people to ignore virus warnings.

"It's the cry-wolf syndrome," said Brad Hollerbach, systems manager at the Southeast Missourian. After so many warnings, people can become blas about them.

Then there's the time it wastes. "We spend a lot of time calming down customers about virus hoaxes, responding to e-mails about virus hoaxes," Florian said.

Generally, hoaxes warn of dire consequences if you open a message with a certain subject line -- an erased hard drive, stolen credit card numbers, and so on -- and encourage you to forward the message immediately.

Some will say a virus is equally lethal to PCs and Macs.

Possible, but unlikely, Hollerbach said. Viruses are targeted at one or the other because the two platforms are so different. (And most viruses are targeted at Microsoft, he said, because every virus writer "wants to bring down the 800-pound gorilla. Why write a virus that only has the potential to affect 3 percent when you can write it to affect 97 percent of computers? It's all ego.")

Despite the time they waste and fear they create, virus hoaxes can have a lighter side.

One is the Discount Virus hoax. When the e-mail is opened, the message reads, "This computer has just been infected with the Discount Virus. Due to budgetary constraints, we have had to let our programming staff go. We are counting on you to use the honor system" to erase your hard drive.

This has several variations, from the Newfie Virus and Irish Virus (with the British spelling "honour") to the Kentucky Virus asking you to use the honor system because "we ain't got no programmin experience."