The Everyday IT Blog

Disclaimer.. a good number of my family and friends are guilty of the topic I’m about to blog about. I’m not singling you out.. I’m just hoping to impart some knowledge you can benefit from.

We’ve all seen them.. forwarded emails that warn of impending doom and gloom if you don’t keep your eye out for the latest virus, the latest bill moving through congress that promises to strip you of your rights to carry a handgun, etcetera. There are hundreds of thousands of these internet “myths” floating around out there. Chances are you’ve received at least one just today. Possibly more. I mean, your friend/brother/mom sent it to you.. it must be true, right? The answer: Probably not. But how can you tell?

Your first defense from ridicule by us technical types.. common sense. The most common myth email I see is regarding some killer virus being classified by Microsoft and CNN as “the most dangerous ever”. There’s your clue.. while Microsoft will occasionally do mass-media releases about patches for their software I can promise you that you won’t hear about it via a chain email first.

Your second line of defense.. a well-known site known as snopes.com. Snopes is run by a couple who have dedicated a large amount of time researching these very myths of which we speak.  Just grab that latest email, cut and paste some of the key text or the subject line in the search field on the snopes website and I bet you’ll be surprised at what you see.  Give it a shot now.. then do all of those relatives and friends that forward you these emails  a favor and point them here to educate themselves.  You’ll be doing a bunch of us a favor!