> my suspicions......
> dangerous......because they are yet another easy route to get
> viruses/worms/other malicious code spread without alerting 
> virus protection
> software

Look at CERT and Microsoft (to name a few):

http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/131569
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/
bulletin/ms01-038.asp

> Some of us have NO control over how the emails are sent. Our COMPANY
> decides how it will be sent NOT US. 

a good overview how you can avoid it even if you use Hotmail etc. can be
found at

http://www.efn.no/html-bad.html

Alexander Nader

PS: I used the term "idiotic" (not really politically correct, I know) to
attract your attention: those "emails" nowadays are THE major source of
viruses, for example the last Klezm-bug was spread this way.