[BC] is some new virus out there?

[Larry Fuss]

> Has anyone else noticed a sudden influx of "Returned Mail-- 
Service Unavailable" messages to addresses they didn't recognise?

Not on AOL, but my Hotmail account has been plagued with that the last few
days.
There were 40+ such messages yesterday.

> Also, please straighten something out for me, in language that a
non-techie 
like me can comprehend, please!  Is it still true that if you don't open 
any attachments, you are usually safe, since that is still how most viruses 
are transmitted? 

Mostly true, but there are some that can spread even without being opened.
I read in some PC magazine that it's wise to turn off the preview pane on
Outlook 
and Outlook Express because some viruses spread that way.  I haven't done
that,
because I like using the preview pane, but I do continue to use the AVG 
anti-virus program which seems to work well.

Larry