Probably not to nice to reply to multiple posts with the same reply but considering the interest in this topic I think it might be important to post this here at the top. Hopefully more will see it and it will help to eleviate some of the problems that many here are experiencing or fearing. I do not know this stuff for certain but it is what I am told. If someone out there knows more or can correct or shed light please feel free.

First I would like to say, as an AOL subscriber, I understand that I am safer than many. My email browser does not open file attachments automatically, In fact, Unless I open a file by selecting "Download" at the bottom of the browser window, the file is not even on my computer. All my attachments remain on AOL's computers. I can simply delete a message and it is gone.

Here is the previous post that I would like to share here.

As I recall from reading the Symantec discription of the Sircam Virus this is one of the key clues to the virus being present. The File names can very from email to email but they seem to all have a message saying,

I SEND YOU THIS FILE IN ORDER TO HAVE YOUR ADVICE or some version of that. Your mention of I JUST WANTED YOUR ADVISE ON THIS
ATTACHMENT is another variation of the message.

I keep reading these posts about people not just receiving the virus but actually getting hit by it. One thing that I understand from what I read is that you can not get hit unless you open the FILE. Opening a letter, I believe, will not infect your system. Some email software will open all attachments when email is downloaded. That would explain why some people are getting hit. Check your preferences and see if you have the option to NOT OPEN ATTACHMENTS. If so, select it. That should help. My brother manages a web page for some local amature hockey teams. He has received Sircam at least twice. He uses Eudora and has it set as I described above. Eudora saves the files to a directory but does not open them. He has to manually open any attachments. He appears to be safe with the most current Virus Definitions and Software update from Norton. His AV software did catch the attachments when he scanned. He was able to delete them. I do not know if Outlook offers a similar option but I would advise people to check their email software and try to keep it from opening attachments until you can verify them.