These virus alerts are both hoaxex.  For more information, refer to http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html

Jim Golden
U.S. Laser Corporation.

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From:   Haraldur R. Karlsson[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Thursday, August 21, 1997 10:12 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        FW: virus alert - please read

Dear Isotopers,

This message was sent to me from a good friend.

Hal


>Friends,
>
>----------
>I got this from a fellow worker here at the Bureau of Economic Geology.
>
>Mark Vining
>
>! VIRUS ALERT !
>
>(1)  WARNING!!!!!! If you receive an e-mail titled "JOIN THE  CREW"
>DO NOT open it!
>It will erase EVERYTHING on your hard drive! Send this letter
>out to as many people you can.......this is a new virus and not many
>people know about it!  This information was received this morning from
>IBM, please share it with anyone that might access the Internet.
>
>(2)  If anyone receives mail entitled; PENPAL GREETINGS! please delete it
>WITHOUT reading it!!  This is a warning for all Internet users - there is
>a dangerous virus propagating across the Internet through an e-mail
>message entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!".
>DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY MESSAGE ENTITLED "PENPAL GREETINGS"!!
>This message appears to be a friendly letter asking you if you are
>interested in a penpal, but by the time you read this letter, it is too
>late. The "trojan horse" virus will have already infected the boot sector
>of your hard drive, destroying all of the data present.  It is a
>self-replicating virus, and once the message is read, it will
>AUTOMATICALLY forward itself to anyone who's e-mail address is present in
>YOUR mailbox!  This virus will DESTROY your hard drive, and holds the
>potential to DESTROY the hard drive of anyone whose mail is in your in
>box, and who's mail is in  their in box and so on.  If this virus keeps
>getting passed, it has the potential to do a great deal of DAMAGE to
>computer networks worldwide!!!!
>Please, delete the message entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!" as soon as you see
>it!  And pass this message along to all of your friends, relatives and the
>other readers of the newsgroups and mailing lists which you are on so that
>they are not hurt by this dangerous virus!!!!
>Please pass this along to everyone you know so this can be stopped.
>
>(3)  There is a new virus going arround in the last couple of days!!!  DO
>NOT open or even look at any mail that you get that says:  "Returned or
>Unable to Deliver"
>This virus will attach itself to your computer components and render them
>useless. Immediately delete any mail items that says this. AOL has said
>this is a very dangerous virus, and there is NO remedy for it at this
>time, Please Be Careful, And forward to all your on-line friends A.S.A.P.
>

Dr. Haraldur R. Karlsson
Associate Professor of Geosciences
Texas Tech University
Box 41053
Lubbock, TX 79409, USA