I just received this from Bob and think it is well worth sharing. FWIW, among his many talents Bob is a Windows Guru. My version of Win95 (the first version) did not seem to offer scripting capability so I am guessing this will apply to later versions of Win95 and/or Win98.

-----------------------------

From: Bob Staudenmaier To: All Friends and Clients Subject: Protection Against Love Letter Virus

The "Love Letter" virus and its variants depend on Windows scripting support to run. If you are not using Microsoft Outlook (or Outlook Express), you can scrap the AntiVirus scans and remove the scripting components to immunize your system.

1) Have your Windows CDROM disk handy 2) Go to MY COMPUTER........CONTROL PANEL 3) Double-click on ADD/REMOVE programs 4) Select the WINDOWS SETUP tab 5) Choose ACCESSORIES, then hit the PROPERTIES button.

6) Scroll down until you find the WINDOWS SCRIPTING HOST. If this box is not checked, your system does not have scripting support installed and your system is immune to the love letter virus. Use the CANCEL button to close all dialog boxes.

If the box IS checked, you may remove the scripting host by unchecking the box and hitting the OK button until all boxes are closed. Reboot your system. Remember that you may only remove the scripting host if you are NOT using Outlook or Outlook Express.

Notes:

In the unlikely event that you have another application (so far unknown to me) that uses the scripting host, you will have to REVERSE the above procedure to reinstall scripting support.

If you already HAVE the virus, this procedure will not help you. Follow virus removal instructions below or seek assistance.

Exercise caution when opening E-mailed attachments. Avoid opening these types of files:

applications (.EXE) word documents (.DOC) excel spreadsheets (.XLS) visual basic scripts (.VBS)

Most other types of files (.GIF, .JPG, .BMP, .PDF, .PS, .EPS, .HTM , .TXT) cannot carry viruses and are generally safe to open.