Another article discusses the dangers of trusting others who send you potentially virused e-mail. Perhaps your friends assure you that they update their anti-virus program every week. Do you actually check the computer systems of every person you know? Do you want to trust your own system and your data to their promises? You may know your contacts on many levels, but only their computer technician knows their system.

However, the problem is much greater than trust between you and your friends. It relates to the anti-virus programs themselves.

Those anti-virus programs may be useful and helpful, but let's also realize their limits. These new e-mail viruses are spread by - you guessed it - e-mail. A recent virus infected 600,000 computers around the world via the Internet within 4 hours of its release. No anti-virus program that you may use will be updated that fast, and neither will your system.

If you are an active user of e-mail, you will simply have to explain to your contacts that you won't open any attachments, no matter how important they are. Alternatively, you can keep a computer technician on a retainership basis. You'll need him!

So, go ahead and follow the advice of the computer experts. Take the necessary steps to be sure that your system won't suffer from the next major virus outbreak, including the purchase of a good anti-virus program. However, do be realistic, do be cautious, and do use your brain. Some of the advice that you've heard from supposed experts is absurd.