It's easy to understand why some folks think a U.S. military missile shot down TWA Flight 800. After all, don't you know someone who thinks you can get a computer virus from e-mail?
I do. They keep sending me warnings about those destructive e-mail viruses such as ''PenPal Greetings.''
The Internet is full of silly rumors and legends propagated by Web sites, newsgroups and e-mail. Coming from the computer community, things take on an air of authority.
Latest scares
The latest computer scares are coming from the World Wide Web. The newest browsers are pulling more than text and pictures from the Web. They're also grabbing tiny programs (called Java or ActiveX) that allow you to interact with Web sites.
Clever young hackers find ways to exploit these programs to invade a computer from the Internet. Then they release their findings to embarrass the folks who wrote the software - and to prove how clever they are.
The poor home-computer owner might end up thinking that his computer is nothing more than a wide-open door for invisible, high-tech thieves.
So lets dispel some myths:
Myth: Your computer could be damaged by e-mail.
Truth: There has never been an e-mail computer virus. But there are lots of bogus warnings. According to the U.S. Department of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory site http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html, PKZ300, Irina, Good Times, Deeyenda, Ghost, Penpal Greeting, Make Money Fast, NaughtyRobot and AOL4FREE are all hoaxes.
That's not to say that you can't get a virus from a program that someone sends you through e-mail. And the family of Microsoft Word macro viruses can ride on documents that are saved in MS Word format and opened in Word. (You can read more about Word macro viruses and download Microsoft's fix at http://www.microsoft.com/word/freestuff/mvtool/virusinfo.htm
Myth: Your computer is vulnerable to attack by thousands of viruses.
Truth: Thousands of computer viruses have been created, but only a few hundred are active, or ''in the wild.''
Joe Wells, a virus expert who has worked for Symantec and IBM, publishes a monthly ''Wildlist'' on the Internet; March's list http://www.virusbtn.com/WildLists/ had reliable reports of 240 different viruses active worldwide.
Myth: Dangerous ''security holes'' in Microsoft's Internet Explorer will let hackers enter your computer.
Truth: Internet Explorer 3.0 uses a new technology called ''ActiveX'' which allows Web sites to send tiny computer programs into your computer, usually in the form of cute, animated pictures. Computer programmers figured out a way to use ActiveX to do nasty things to a Windows 95 machine.
Fred McLain of Bothell, Wash., created an ActiveX Web page that he claims will shut down any Windows 95 machine that accesses it. You can read about it on his site - it's safe to visit http://www.halcyon.com/mclain/ActiveX/.
The 'shortcut' trap
Another hole in Explorer is related to the Windows 95 ''shortcut'' - if you somehow copy a shortcut from your PC to a Web server, the server (and a hacker) can use that shortcut. Computer students in Massachusetts figured this out and posted information http://www.cybersnot.com/iebug.html.
But let's put things into perspective: There has never been a report of any unsuspecting computer being affected by these problems, and Microsoft quickly issued fixes for the problem http://www.microsoft.com/ie/default.htm
Each software company likes to point out the shortcomings of its competitors' products. So Sun Microsystems (the creators of ActiveX competitor Java) will happily discuss problems with ActiveX, and Microsoft will note that Java is insecure, too.
For the truth about Internet security, read the WWW Security FAQ (frequently asked questions) page http://www.genome.wi.mit.edu/WWW/faqs/www-security-faq.html.
For an amusing discussion of the hype surrounding viruses and Internet security, visit the Computer Virus Myths page http://kumite.com/myths/.
E-mail Charles Brewer with questions, comments and suggestions at CBrewer@enquirer.com Charles Brewer's columns can be found athttp://enquirer.com/columns/brewer
