This tip was printed from the MalekTips Computer and Technology Help and Tips website at http://malektips.com.

Electronic Mail - Avoiding Passing Around Urban Legends

Ever receive an e-mail message talking about something that seems too good, too wild, or too unbelievable to be true? If so, the e-mail may contain an urban legend, a story told often enough and spread around to enough people that it gains an air of legitimacy, though the information is completely false.

Don't embarrass yourself and waste others' bandwidth. Before you spread a story you just received with 50 of your closest friends, consider checking out the following websites to see whether or not you just received an urban legend. And, if so, please *politely* inform the sender with the exact URL to the site where you found the legend. Don't be crass or a snob about it; many people just don't know how to check these things out!

AFU & Urban Legends Archive - http://www.urbanlegends.com/

Symantec Security Response Hoax Page - http://www.sarc.com/avcenter/hoax.html

Urban Legends and Folklore - http://urbanlegends.about.com/

Urban Legends Reference Pages - http://www.snopes.com/

Vmyths.com Truth About Computer Security Hysteria - http://www.vmyths.com/