Occasionally a virus can get past even the best Anti-Virus scanners and
Firewalls, due to the timing of the Virus being announced, the antidote being
provided and the actual date you download the Virus Definition.
However, some precautions can be observed to help prevent this sort of thing
happening in future. Please don't take offence if I'm teaching you to "suck
eggs".
-
Initially read all emails in plain text.
Once the email has been confirmed as legitimate, it can be viewed using HTML by
opening the email, then:
View > Message in HTML.
If all emails are read in plain by default, there is no need to turn off
Preview mode (as is often specified in email Anti-Virus hints), as a virus
cannot be loaded from within the email message body via HTML or JavaScript, if
"Read all messages in plain text" is ticked. In Outlook Express, this is found
via:
Tools > Options > Read > Read all messages in plain text.
-
Don't open any attachments until you have read the message accompanying them.
-
If the message looks dodgy, don't open the attachment.
-
If the email address of the sender is unknown to you or looks dodgy, don't open
any attachment.
-
If the attachment file extension suffix (.DOC, .ZIP, etc) is unknown to you or
looks dodgy, don't open the attachment, or at least not until it has been
confirmed as a legitimate file (even by a phone call to the sender).
Please note that these extensions may not be in capitals, but are shown this
way for clarity only.
-
One of the Email message body comments for one particular Worm was to do with
containing a binary attachment. Basically, you will probably never receive a
legitimate binary attachment, so always be very suspicious of these files. A
binary attachment will have a file extension of .BIN.
-
Any attachment with a file extension of .SCR (script) should never be opened.
-
Another type of file that always contains a Virus , Worm, Trojan, etc, is an
attachment containing 2 file extensions; I.E. "hello.doc.scr".
-
!0000
-
As a further deterrent to Mass-mailing worms/viruses (such as Blaster), you
should include an item in your address book with a first name of
"!0000", a nickname (for memory purposes only!) of
something like "Anti-Virus deterrent" and NO EMAIL ADDRESS.
Apparently this will have the effect of causing Mass-mailing worms to fail, as
the first email address it encounters is invalid.
This address
must
be the first email address in the Address Book. This is why the name starts
with "!", as this will force the name to the top of the list.
You may wish to institute this as a precautionary deterrent.
Return to
Top-of-Page
|
