The malign programmers of the world produce 10 to 15 entirely new computer viruses every day, each of which takes anywhere from five minutes to a full day to counteract, according to Alex Haddox, product manager of the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center.<p>

As if that's not enough, the less-talented malicious people of the world regularly produce virus hoaxes. While a virus hoax can't infect a computer, it can tie up valuable network and e-mail resources, and can scare unsophisticated users. Haddox says impossibly scary rhetoric is a fundamental part of the virus hoax, which is created by the kind of people who would create viruses if they had the technical skill. To help people protect themselves against this technically non-infectious form of virus, Haddox created and maintains a Web page describing virus hoaxes that can be accessed from the <A HREF="http://www.symantec.com/">Symantec</a> and <A HREF="http://www.sarc.com/">SARC</a>.<p>


Paul Schindler recently spoke with Haddox about SARC's anti-virus hoax page, detection of hoaxes, and the fight against viruses. He began by asking about the rules of thumb for differentiating between a serious virus warning and a hoax.



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<b><font color="#993300" size="2">Job</font></b><br>
Product Manager for the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center in Los
Angeles. His team has satellite offices in Tokyo, Sydney, Australia, and
Leiden, The Netherlands.<p>

<b><font color="#993300" size="2">Home</font></b><br>
Santa Monica, Calif.<p>

<b><font color="#993300" size="2">Family</font></b><br>
Engaged<p>

<b><font color="#993300" size="2">First Computer</font></b><br>
Apple IIc<p>

<b><font color="#993300" size="2">Career</font></b><br>
He's been in the anti-virus business for seven years.<p>


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<b><font color="#993300" size="2">Honors</font></b><br>
Member of the advisory board for the <i>Virus Bulletin</i>, one of the industry's leading international publications, and a member of the National Computer Security Association Antivirus Developers Council<p>

<b><font color="#993300" size="2">How And Why I Got On The Internet</font></b><br>
I signed up for my first ISP in the summer of 1993 for shareware downloads and e-mail.<p>