I just received an e-mail with an .exe attachment (an obvious virus red flag) that was caught by my McAfee...it's the KLEZ virus. Here's the mailer:

from: t_bone_102 subject: Pour la ville de Toronto, province of

DO NOT OPEN THIS E-MAIL!

This means someone who has me in their address book must have the KLEZ gestating in their system and it's starting to launch. So I would advise eveyone here who has my home address to do a virus scan immediately just to be safe...the KLEZ is a nasty one to get rid of once you get it (as Boby once pointed out to us from his own experience).

Oh, and a technical question: Why does the virus scan always stall or slow-down on the .CAB files?

because they're huge?

Oh, okay...so the .CAB files hold a lot more data the other files...I didn't know that...thanks, tsuwm!

They're zipped up bits and pieces of your OS (= operating system, = Windoze in your case). Just think of compacting all your clothing for a three-month trip into, say, a purse, and then digging through to find the dirty socks to leave them at home.