Gosh, it's quiet here in family room. The tick tocking of mantel clock is actually loud! Weird.

Why do I love internet so much? Sometimes I wish I'd never logged on that first time! Days like this! Days when that darn piece of *junk* crashes.

No, that's not true. When I get back that piece of *utter magic*, I'll thank my lucky stars!

I'm hopelessly addicted to internet. Admit it! I've learned so much and have met so many wonderful people. Oh, I fully realize I've got so much more to learn. Like BACKING UP my files. Like doing it on a REGULAR basis.

I'm getting tired. Think I'll put my coat on and step outside onto deck.

It's snowing! There's no wind. *Charlie Brown* snowflakes! Huge ones coming straight down. Tree limbs and evergreens are cloaked with several inches of stuff!

Even more quiet out here. All I hear is high tone in my ears one only notices in total silence. So peaceful. Whiteness all around me and darkness in distance.

Finally at peace and exhausted, I slip back into bed. Life will go on without my computer, I tell myself.

"BUT from now on, I WILL DO A BACK UP every day"!

Some of them are simply jokes and others can cause some problems. Many just cause a tremendous amount of unnecessary traffic like one of ones involving Microsoft:

"If you receive an email titled "WIN A HOLIDAY" DO NOT open it. It will erase everything on your hard drive. Forward this letter to as many people as you can. This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people know about it. This information was announced yesterday morning from Microsoft;...."

Then there are ones like "SULFNBK.EXE" hoax. This ones says if you do a search on your computer for this file, you have a serious virus infection and you should remove it immediately and forward message to as many people as you can. Well this file is a real Windows file that controls certain functions on your computer and you will find it in Window's Command folder when you do a search. If you find it in different locations then you might have a virus since exe files are normally ones that get infected. But email hoax doesn't tell you that, it tells you that you should immediately remove it if found. And many people do remove it.

Before you pass on any email like this you should check to see if it is for real or not. There are a number of sites that you can check at:

Symantec Site http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html Mining Co.(About.com) Virus and Hoax Guide http://antivirus.miningco.com/msub2.htm Data Fellow's Virus Page http://www.europe.datafellows.com/vir-info Virus Hoaxes and Net Lore http://hoaxinfo.com Rob Rosenberger's Site http://www.vmyths.com Hoaxbusters.org The Big List http://hoaxbusters.org Stiller Research Alphabetic Hoax List http://www.stiller.com/hoaxa.htm Hoax Kill http://www.hoaxkill.com

What you should do when you have some time is go to these sites and take a look at some of most common ones so you are familiar with them when you get one.

In summary, make sure that you have a good anti-virus program to protect your system and be sure information you get in an email is valid before you do something to your computer or forward message to all of your friends.