Is it possible for AOL members to send e mail forwards in the main body and not as attachments? I;m afraid to open any attachment for fear of a virus, even if I know the sender.

When an AOLer forwards an e-mail, the text of the message is placed in the body of the forwarded note but only after sending. If the note has a lot of HTML in it, the HTML may be stripped out and put in an attachment.

If you have a good virus scanner, know the sender and know they sent you something you shouldn't be concerned.

I think AOL members can't send forwards(like forwarding jokes) except as attachments. I have told them that I do not open any attachments. Do they have a virus scanner that automatically checks before sending. I really don't know what HTML is.

I know that some virus will get into address books without the owner's knowledge.

So, I don't know if my question is answered or not.

AOLers can copy and paste what they want to forward into a new note to avoid the attachment issue. HTML is what WEB pages are created with. And yes AOL has a virus scanner that would not allow infected files to be attached.