Before forwarding that virus warning (or that cookie recipe, or that note about the missing little girl, or the request by a dying boy for postcards, or the promise by Bill Gates to pay people money, or the warning that Congress is going to tax email, etc. etc. etc.) along to everyone in your address book, take just a minute and check it out at one or more of these very useful sites:

Urban Legends

The Urban Legends Web Site: http://www.urbanlegends.com

Urban Legends Reference Pages: http://www.snopes.com (one of my favorite all-time sites … highly worth a visit!)

Virus Hoaxes

Symantec Anti Virus Research Center: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html

McAfee Associates Virus Hoax List: http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp

Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability: http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/

Online and email hoaxes: http://www.kumite.com/myths/

Datafellows Hoax Warnings: http://www.Europe.Datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm

Credibility of Information

How To Evaluate Internet Research Sources: http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm

How To Evaluate Information Sources: http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~agsmith/evaln/evaln.htm

Remember … always verify the truth behind the emails you receive before you decide to forward them. Otherwise, you're just helping hoaxers and scammers, and you're alerting people for no reason.