Hallmark POSTCARD virus

Received this in an email. FWIW, It has been checked out at snopes. Just a heads up if you havent seen it.
RS

HUGE VIRUS COMING ! PLEASE READ & FORWARD !

Hi All,

I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus!
I checked Snopes, and it is for real. Get this E-mail message sent around to all your contacts ASAP.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!

You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,'regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc C drive of your computer.

This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address on his/her contact list. That is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it!

If you receive a mail called' POSTCARD,' even if it is sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately. This is the worst virus announced by CNN.

It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.
COPY THIS E-MAIL, AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS.
REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US

Please read the entire article on Snopes. This Postcard virus has been around since at least 2007 and this warning contains some true information and some false information.

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp

On Snopes they also give some good general tips to avoid getting infected accidentally. For instance, they would tell you not to click on the link I just put in above, but would recommend you instead go to Snopes.com directly and search for Hallmark or Postcard since the link I sent you could be a trojan horse. It's not, but it could be...

Just because an email claims to have been run through Snopes or any other fact checking, don't always believe it unless YOU can verify that independently as Bob outlines above. The same goes for that bit of BS some emails carry at the bottom about having passed inspection by one or another email virus checker. There is some real crap floating around out there in emails and on sites with popups and other such baggage, and you are always best off to have as tough an antivirus, anti spam, anti spyware as is possible with constant updates and then to always double check things that come to you heralding some big catastrophe if you don't heed what the author has told you. The greater the disaster and the hyperbole, the more likely you need to be cautious and take nothing for granted.

Whether truly viral with trojans, worms or whatever buried in them, or just the work of one or another of the Agenda Mills cranking out opinion, it pays to do your due diligence, cuz most of the really juicy stuff is just garbage masquerading as a gift.