If you use Turnpike you cannot get a virus by reading a plain text email (or news) message - although other software may be more vulnerable. (Users of Outlook and Outlook Express should regularly check Microsoft’s website to ensure they have installed the latest security updates for their software.)

However, you could be at risk if a message includes a binary attachment that contains a program and you run that program (or a MS Word document incorporating a macro and you open that document in Word). See section 3.2 for a fuller discussion of virus precautions.

Sooner or later you are likely to come across a hoax message which claims that just reading an email will give you a virus. Some of the more famous ones, including Join The Crew, Penpals, Deeyenda and Good Times, are listed at

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html

If you receive such a message, delete it. Do not post it to newsgroups or email it to all your friends. These scare stories are designed merely to worry novices and annoy more experienced users.