"Happy New Year!"

That's the subject line on a new malicious e-mail making the rounds. The sender wants you to click on the attached postcard. The file name is postcard.exe or postcard.zip.

Don't do it! Don't open that attachment, even if you recognize the e-mail address. It contains harmful software that will worm its way on to your computer without your knowledge or permission.

Once your computer is infected, it will start cranking out mass mailings to everyone on your address list. In other words, you'll become a spammer, sending out Happy New Year postcards designed to infect other people's computers.

This Happy New Year worm is really making the rounds. By one count, 18,000 of these malicious e-mails are being sent out every hour.

The lesson here is clear. Be suspicious of all attached files. Never click on one if you don't recognize the sender or weren't expecting it. And keep your security software updated to protect yourself from the bad guys on the net.

For More Information:

Ball drops on 'Happy New Year!' worm