99% of e-mail virus warnings are hoaxes and the goal is to get you to pass the e-mail on as a chain letter and not to warn you of a virus (even if the virus happens to be real the warnings usually are not). Here are some basic rules:

• DO NOT FORWARD THE MESSAGE to all your friends. There are no actual virus warnings that are disseminated in this manner. If there is a real virus you will see it published in appropriate manners, on official antivirus Web sites, and most likely on the local and national news.
• It has been estimated that at any given time as much as one fourth (25%) of the backbone bandwidth is taken up with unnecessary email, specifically, chain letters and virus hoaxes. This loss of bandwidth is noticeable in the speed of your connection. A few of these hoaxes have even been known to choke down entire web sites because of the number of them.
• Go to an official Web site and look for hoaxes. All official antivirus sites contain libraries of hoaxes and actual viruses. Here's just a few:
  • Actual Virus Libraries:
    • http://www.antivirus.com/vinfo/
    • http://vil.mcafee.com/
    • http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html
  • Virus Hoax Libraries:
    • http://www.antivirus.com/vinfo/hoaxes/hoax.asp
    • http://home.mcafee.com/virusinfo/virushoaxes.aspx
    • http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html