This is a poll for all of you who are tired of email viruses. (And since I can't imagine there are any of you out there who aren't...)

ML

Boy, I was tempted to pick the 2nd one, just for fun, but thought "that would be bad". As a tech support person who gets calls from infected customers and deals with support mail, I absolutely abhore viruses. I'm forced to use Outlook Express for support mail, and I'm always taking the preview pane off so I can delete the emails. I swear, one of these days, I'm going to smack the person that puts the preview pane back on...

Oh, boy, MLT, you sound weary! Poor you.

Anyway, I voted Other because I don't believe in God - otherwise the first option would have reflected my feelings most closely.

Yvonne

It's too bad you don't believe in God, Yvonne. Because I was going to ask him (or her) to make that section of hell have continuous flashing lights, like in a disco, and then pump in the constant sound of fingernails on blackboards

ML

I voted for the first option, but with this caveat: also inhabiting this section of hell should be all the idiots who create/pass along forwards for fake viruses and/or urban legends without bothering to check if they are real. Nothing makes me more irritated than getting email after email about virus hoaxes and security threats that have LONG AGO been disproven. All it would take is a simple google search or a trip to Symantec\'s virus page or hoaxbusters or any of the other numerous websites out there devoted to debunking these myths. These emails about fake viruses, security warnings, phone scams, attackers, etc. do nothing but create unnecessary panic and clog email inboxes.

Can you tell this is a pet peeve of mine? <G>

Annie

I voted for option 1, but I would also like to add that in this special section of hell needs to be a waiting room for people who I do know and trust that send to me e-mails containing unnecessary or unexpected attachments in the midst of a particularly bad virus scare.

I generally don't appreciate receiving jokes and pictures that "are too cute for words" as a rule, but when I'm so paranoid about getting a virus that I put on rubber gloves before sitting down to touch the keyboard, it is really in bad form to decide to send me something I "just have to see". I might have just erased the cutest baby pictures in the universe, but I ain't taking no chances!

These people don't have to stay with the virus creators (who should have each hair on their body removed individually only to start all over again when the hair grows back - yes, I loathe these virus creators that much), but they should have to pay a little time <g>.

Lynn

Virus creators can share a circle of hell with those who create mailing lists and such that fill my box with spam.

JD

I voted other. While I don't particularly care for the people who created the viruses themselves, it's really Microsoft who should be taken to task here. They have supplied the masses with a huge honey pot, riddled with insecure access points. It screams "Attack Me!" One has to wonder how long is it going to take -- or what is it going to take -- to get Microsoft to step up and make their system secure. As long as they are getting people's money - Microsoft doesn't care.

No other plateform has these problems.

The worst thing to happen to the internet was Microsoft.

However, there are Mac viruses, Linux viruses, and Unix viruses. No platform is totally secure. And while I'm neither a big fan nor a total hater of all things Microsoft, it's worth pointing out (I think ) that part of the reason that Microsoft-targetting viruses are so prevalent is that Microsoft software itself is so prevalent.

Okay, so now we have another can of worms - why is Microsoft software so prevalent? - but let's not go there <g>.

Yvonne
(who remembers a time in a far-off galaxy long, long ago when there were more Mac viruses around than PC viruses )