Be on your guard - there seems to be a virus epidemic! Bugbear is on the loose again - had two yesterday There is a new worm which affects Windows NT, 2000 and XP - MPBLAST -comes with a message about microsoft or Bill Gates. This apparantly sweeping the internet and causing havoc on unprotected computers Then there is one which comes with a message saying your email address is about to expire and to click on the attachment to find out what to do. This is a virus. I am not sure what it is called. These forge addresses using parts of genuine addresses from the victim's in box. There is no point in sending off an angry reply to the person whose address sent it to you - the address is not a real one and the people whose addresses have been stolen to make the new address have absolutely nothing to do with the virus. The viruses may also attach themselves to genuine messages in a victim's in-box making the message look bona fide. Just do not open attachments - even if you recognise the sender's name. If you are expecting an attachment from someone, check back first with a new message to confirm that the attachment you have received is genuine. If you want to send an attachment to someone, send them a separate email first warning them Mark all your messages as read. Only keep essential contacts in your address book Do not even think about accessing the internet without virus protection. The teddy bear hoax is also still around. I can't pretend to know a lot about the two new viruses - I suggest that you look on the website of your virus protection company or check out the Sophos or Symantec site. If you have the sort of virus protection that needs updating manually, do it NOW! Helen Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk List Admin Rootsweb Eng Dorset & Scammell Lists, and British Genealogy Eng-Dorset, Surnames & Forenames list