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“Viral” email distribution relies on Net users passing on interesting messages to colleagues and friends. But if the emails carry large music or picture attachments, they slow the Internet and can cripple office networks. Now Philips has a simple solution that will let you send on those daft jokes and animations without taking up too much bandwidth (WO 03/005654). The Internet service provider or office network checks the title of any large attachment, and if its name matches one that is already openly available on the Internet or local network, it strips out the attachment and replaces it with a short URL link to the same information. Emails can then travel faster and cause less congestion, leaving the recipient free to decide whether to download the material or not.