Some viruses spread by email. If an email is just plain text there is no way that the act of reading a plain email message can cause your computer to become infected with a virus. Attachments can be programs containing trojans or software viruses or documents containing macro viruses. Your computer will be infected when you open or view the infected email attachment or HTML message. The attachment was disguised so that it looked like a harmless text file, but was actually a virus that ran when you double clicked on it.
Virus hoaxes circulate widely by email.
These are messages purporting to warn you about a virus that spreads through email and urge you to pass the message on to everyone you know. They are often dressed up with impressive sounding technical nonsense to make you believe the message. Dr Solomon's VirusScan and keep it up to date . Instructions to do this are included in your How to Connect to ResNet guide. Pay attention to any warning messages you are given by the package.