More computer viruses ?

Oh dear ... or as they say in these parts Ooh la la, la la la la la la ! Once again we seem to have hit the season for virus warnings.
This morning I was one of over 50 people who had been circulated with an e-mail warning of "the most destructive virus ever"; one that would do unmentionable things to my hard disk etc. etc. - and I was being encouraged to send this e-mail on to as many people as possible. From the "cc" section on the e-mail I guess several thousand other people had had the same one today. You get these warnings and requests too ?
The first thing I do, whenever I receive one, is to go straight to the McAfee web site where there is a section called "Virus Information". And there, as I had suspected, I learned the warning is a hoax. There I found the wording of the e-mail I had received, reproduced almost word for word: There is no such virus at all.
The McAfee "Virus Information" pages, which are kept bang up to date, are there for all to see; you don't have to pay anything; they are free. Simply go to
http://home.mcafee.com/VirusInfo/
Every time I receive one of these e-mails I ask myself - "why has somebody written this nonsense ?" and more to the point "why have all these people fallen for it ?"
Circulating warnings of hoaxes does nothing except clog up the Internet and slow down legitimate e-mails. Maybe that's the intention of the people who start them. I just don't know. But next time you receive one, PLEASE check the McAfee site first.

Time now to climb down off my soapbox for today .... !

Surveys across France from East to West

No blog posts for 6 months !

That's because I was kept very busy through the autumn of 2010, travelling to all points of the compass to carry out pre-purchase surveys for property buyers across the southern half of France.

Trips over to the east, sometimes criss-crossing the Swiss border either side of Lake Geneva, were for surveys that included alpine chalets.

Trips to the west were to properties in the foothills of the Pyrenees - where the peaks were already becoming snow covered early in October.
And once again I found myself working in Ceret, a town known for its modern art, located in the prime cherry-growing region of France, and very popular with British buyers.

To the north I carried out surveys in Lot-et-Garonne, Dordogne and Haute Vienne: I've lost count with the number of times I've driven up and down the A20, but the scenery always makes it a pleasant journey.
More about Haute-Vienne in my next post.