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.

One of absolute coolest things about ZoneAlarm is that it also protects your system from email viruses. For example, today I received an email with an attachment. The attachment was a virus, and it was renamed by ZoneAlarm to make it obvious that it was a problem. My antivirus software would have caught it as well, but it was really nice that my firewall stopped virus even before that point.

So to sum it all up, yes, I would highly recommend this firewall. In fact, it is recommended over any other software firewall product.

Additional Information

Firewalls protect your system http://www.internet-tips.net/Security/Firewalls.htm

You must protect your system with a personal firewall, especially if you are using DSL or cable modem.

Products - Sonic WALL http://www.internet-tips.net/Products/sonicwall.htm You really want to protect your personal computer? The best possible firewall solution that I have found is SonicWall.

Tanstaaf - Spyware http://www.internet-tips.net/Tanstaafl/spyware.htm Be careful installing ad supported products - you may find that you every move on internet is being watched!