Junk mail is as old as the Pony Express of the nineteenth century. So it is no surprise that the electronic-mail world of the twenty-first century has its own version of unsolicited, unwanted messages advertising everything from get-rich-quick schemes to magazines you don't need. In the old days, junk mail was largely a minor nuisance that quickly wound up in the garbage can. Now, these messages--called "spam"--are often a major distraction, forcing people to wade through a river of junk before getting to their important e-mail or, worse, containing a virus that wipes out an entire hard drive. Viruses are computer programs, often sent via e-mail, that can wipe out your computer information--including important documents and records--in less than a second. They are so named because they can spread as fast as the most virulent contagion, forwarded innocently by computer users who do not know the message they are sending contains the virus.

Subsections

1. Spam
2. Viruses