Prominent Web Postmasters have sounded a red alert warning against the rising number of mails floating around and asked surfers to resist temptation of fancy names and delete them.
The MS Web Postmaster has also warned against random opening of e-mails from unfamiliar sources, particularly movie and music files which have started to show up with 'viral contents'.
In a circular sent out to domain and also individual indirect subscribers, the Postmaster said that file attachments such as '.bat', '.lnk' or '.exec's' can contain malicious codes like 'Trojan' or a virus.
A large number of messages from unknown senders, or names not legible, carry heavy attachments inviting the receivers to open the file or view the pictures.
Invariably, those falling to the temptation have regretted obliging the mischief-mongers and had to send their machines to workshops.
Such messages, under fancy titles and impressive corporate names, land very frequently. Advice of 'delivery failures' Webmasters of an indeterminate identity about messages not sent by a subscriber is also a popular way to spread virus.
A recent notification from Yahoo has advised users to redirect to its Webmasters any message they suspect to contain virus.
In Pakistan, the Comsats, a public sector service provider, is daily updating its list of viruses which threaten the sanity of the computers.
The home page of the ISP has a list of 13 freshly discovered infections that it advises users to eliminate by downloading a variety of anti-virus updates available at the site.