My husband is a programer for AOL (Mac stuff not the mail stuff) and when I
asked him about the virus warnings he sent me this post from another AOL
programmer (who does the mail stuff), hope this helps clear things up and
puts this warning to rest.
 
Chrissie Devinney
[log in to unmask]
 
Date:    Tue, Dec 6, 1994 12:46 PM EDT
From:  EDevinney
Subj:    All those bogus Virus warnings
To:       MCDevinney
 
Posted on: America Online (using MAC 2.5.1)
 
Here's unofficial word from one of our mail programmers, as was posted to the
internet.
Executive summary:  It's either huge misunderstanding or a hoax.
 
`From: [log in to unmask] (Jay)
`Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
`Subject: Re: AOL virus -- UL?
`Date: 5 Dec 1994 10:12:42 -0500
`Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
`
`An unofficial reply:
`
`I've been seeing this one floating around for a few weeks.  I have been
`forwarded the "warnings" about 25 times.  I checked with our tech staff,
`and I don't believe we have a SINGLE verified case where somebody actually
`got this virus.  (Of course, the potential for copycats is huge.)
`
`On a technical note, it's not possible to send anything but ASCII text in
`an AOL E-Mail message; you couldn't execute VT102 screen-drawing commands
`or anything.  You can attach a binary file, which of course could be a
`trojan horse, but you would have to download and run the file.  Simply
`reading it wouldn't do it.
`
`We're still investigating, but I'd say:
`
`F: Reading a message called "Good Times" on AOL will format your hard
`       drive.
`T: It is possible to send someone an executable file on AOL (or any
`       service that supports file attachments) that does bad things if
`       the user downloads and runs it.
`T: Receiving multiple chain-letter warnings about a virus is MORE annoying
`       than having your hard drive trashed.
`
`Jay "Maybe they call it Good Times because the warnings are Reruns" Levitt
`Mail Programmer
`America Online