Before responding in panic, one can find the truth of Urban Legends such as the "Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe" and many Virus Hoaxes on the Web. Go to: -->the "official" hoax web site at the US Department of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Capability: http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html or -->Computer Virus Myths: http://kumite.com/myths/myths/ For this particular one, the "Cookie Recipe," see: -->http://www.neimanmarcus.com/custserv/cookie.htm and download the "real" recipe! The only way to prevent the "virus" of rampant e-mailings is to first check out the plausability of the message, and then be extremely judicious in forwarding the information to others. Please note especially what the CIAC recommends at the bottom of its web page, under "What to Do When You Receive a Warning." It gives some very helpful tips, then concludes: In most cases, common sense would eliminate Internet hoaxes. While those who have tried the recipe say it makes delicious cookies, the e-mail message is, nonetheless, slanderous, and should not be passed on. I doubt the recipe alone would survive many repeated mailings except for the "ain't those big guys awful" approach in the rest of the message. Regards! JS James Shuman, Telecommunications Coordinator The California Arts Project jshuman@telis.org http://www.ucop.edu/tcap/