Beside browsing webpages e-mail is the most widely used service on the Internet. If you are using e-mail (and 99% chance is that you are) you need to know how to be protected against viruses.
Your free virus protection program probably checks the e-mail that you receive and it will alert you if it finds suspicious code or script. But there is a difference if you are receiving e-mail through one of the e-mail clients (Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird etc.) or if you are reading it through webmail. Most of the virus protection free programs include a plugin or some other sort of tool to check e-mail as it arrives or as you open it.
The biggest threat to e-mail users are attachments that may contain a virus or some other malicious threat when opened. Theoretically, virus protection programs should intercept such threats and eliminate them but sometimes they may fail. And this is why it is so important to think before you open a suspicious attachment.
If you get an e-mail from somebody you do not know and do not expect an email from him or her and on the top of it the mail seems weird (for example, a reply from someone you never sent e-mail to, or someone wants to offer you a cheap loan (not to mention viagra), show you their photos or naked photos of some celebrity) be extra careful. There are good chances that the attachment contains a virus, a Trojan or some other malware. The best idea is to delete the e-mail right there and then, without clicking on the attachment.
If you still want to open the attachment, make sure your virus protection free program is updated and active.
A special case are executable attachments (.exe) – most likely you won’t ever see them attached to the e-mail anymore, because virus protection and spam protection programs just delete them when they arrive to the mail server. And rightfully so, my advice is to never ever open an executable you received by e-mail, unless you are 100% sure what it is.
E-mail viruses are a real threat and you need to use caution with your e-mail, especially in situations described above. The bottom line is, be smart and have a quality free virus protection installed – these two principles will save you a lot of trouble in near every case.
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