WMF Exploit Warning

All of my info tech people at the college where I'm a professor, as well as my husband's info tech people at a huge private corporation, say this is the real deal:

A newly discovered serious Windows exploit (WMF exploit) is threatening to infect your PC with viruses, trojans and other forms of attacks.

Details of the threat: Without getting too technical, this new vulnerability can make any picture or website a carrier for any malicious code that a hacker wishes to insert in your computer. This code could include any one of thousands of viruses, it can open a backdoor to your computer so that anyone can take control of it, it can delete your entire hard drive, etc.. The possibilities of the harm that it can deliver are limitless. If you download or open an infected picture, or you simply browse to the wrong website, your PC can be infected.

Who is Affected: Everyone. All versions of Windows are vulnerable to this particular kind of attack.

Is there a cure or patch for it? Not currently. A permanent fix will probably not be available from Microsoft until some time next week.

Can this infection be prevented? Yes. Below are outline several things that you can do to prevent your PC from being infected.

Only browse to trusted, reputable, business-related websites.

Do not open or view any mail attachments or links that you were not
expecting, regardless of the sender.

Do not open or download any pictures in any format (jpg, bmp, gif,
zip, etc.) unless the source of the picture is 100% reliable and this
is done for strictly business-related reasons.

Do not download any screen savers, wallpapers or themes.