There's loads of it about at the moment. The volume of spam is ramping up as the day progresses.

If you don't have antivirus, get some. If you have some, ensure it's up to date and clean up your computer.

That may not surprise people who think it might contain genuine breaking news about Michael Jackson.

It's important to remember that as older threats are vanquished, others will undoubtedly take their place. Mass-mailing worms may be in decline, but it's highly unlikely that they will disappear entirely - the introduction of a major new operating system may even spark a new wave of threats, as virus writers try to find holes in the product.

We advise all companies to consider circulating a policy on virus hoaxes to curb the spread of these annoying emails that can cause mail overload and results in down time and loss of profits. Although they do not cause serious network damage, certain hoaxes, such as the HIV Needle email, are cruel tricks that can be very upsetting for those users receiving them.

There are two re-entries fooling users this month. The Elf Bowling hoax, which has made a festive re-appearance, warns users that the game is infected with a virus and should be deleted immediately upon receipt. This hoax is essentially harmless, but serves as a reminder to companies that they should explain to employees the danger of distributing executable files. The game, while not a malicious threat, can divert employees from doing real work.