Bad as some viruses are now -- attacking anti-virus software, targeting particular programs such as MSWord, virus creators' increasing skill at writing 32-bit viruses -- they are likely to get worse as time goes on. New breeds of viruses, and their uglier cousins, worms, will probably hit first on the Internet. Look for anti-virus companies to go to new levels of effort (and profit) in battling the little demons. Daily virus updates will supplant today's monthly or weekly update. Some anti-virus providers are updating their virus signature files on the Internet as often as 6 times a day now. Expect the effort -- and the hysteria -- to increase, and watch for hoaxes to proliferate. Visit www.vmyths.com/ for a breath of fresh air, or see the listing at the bottom of this page.

Unfortunately, the viruses of the near future are as scary as the hysterics are saying. The new viruses, when they hit your inbox, won't require you to open an attachment, or even the e-mail itself, to infect your system; they'll activate as soon as you log into your e-mail client. Worse, we'll soon see "cluster viruses," which will hit your system and spawn mini-viruses that will attack various systems and thwart scanning software. Rogue Web sites are already stealing files and passwords from unwitting computers; viruses for the Palm PDA are in the field, and viruses targeting Linux systems and mobile phones are coming fast. How to protect yourself from these future threats? The best bet is to keep your virus software up-to-date and constantly active. You also need to disable macros on your system (the majority of active viruses in the field now are macro viruses). You should make every effort to keep up with software patches and security updates; when they appear, download and install them ASAP.

Two newer types of viruses that are making headlines are worms and trojan horses. Worms replicate like viruses but don't alter files or zip data; they just sit in a network system, endlessly replicating themselves and clogging the network. Trojan horses are more actively malicious. They get their name because they're designed to look like a benign file, such as a game or screen saver. Load them onto your system and they go to work, capturing and passing on info from your system or, in a few cases, allowing others to access your computer remotely.

Nevertheless, the hoaxes and false alarms about. Find out the scoop on what's real and what's not by visiting some of the following sources:

• Symantec Anti Virus Research Center at www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html
• McAfee Associates Virus Hoax List at vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp?
• Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability at ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
• Debunking online and email hoaxes: www.kumite.com/myths/
• The Urban Legends Web Site at www.urbanlegends.com/
• Urban Legends Reference Pages at www.snopes.com/
• Datafellows Hoax Warnings at www.Europe.Datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm

Gotten caught by one too many virus hoaxes? Here are some ways to recognize the fakeouts: warnings of "undetectable" viruses, subject headings that yell for your attention, gobbledygook masquerading as tech talk, unsourced information or claims that the big guys aren't aware of this particular virus threat, instructions to delete a file manually without going through an antivirus scrub, and admonitions to tell everyone on your mailing list about this latest virus -- genuine alerts never do this.

Sometimes letting your software access the Internet exposes you to viruses and Trojans. If you're running a firewall such as ZoneAlarm, it will ask you whether a particular program should be allowed to access the Net or not. Most times you'll say No and go on with your work. However, you shouldn't be too quick to check the box that refuses to ever allow that program to access the Net, as there are times when you want that program to go online. If you don't know what the program is, search the Net for the program name to find out what it is -- not only does this let you know what programs are trying to access the Net, it's also a good way to identify spyware that you may not be aware of on your machine. One program that 2K/XP users may see trying to access the Net is SVCHOST.EXE. This program is a standard part of your operating system and can be let through, though it's conceivable (albeit unlikely) that malicious programs could use SVCHOST to access the Web to your detriment.