Email viruses

One of the most common ways a virus spreads these days is via email attachment - the virus is attached to an email and an unsuspecting user opens the email attachment to see what has been sent to them and... BAM!  They have "caught" the virus.

Reading the text alone cannot give you the virus. You must either open the virus or have your computer set to automatically open attachments.  Most email programs will not open an attachment for you but if you use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express then you need to be extra careful as most viruses exploit flaws in how these programs work. 

These days viruses come in many shapes and forms.  Some try to disguise what they are by mis-representing what type of file they are.  Or they come with "social engineering" - text appearing to be from a friend of yours asking you to open the attachment.  In reality your friend does not even know that they have the virus or that they have sent it to you!

There are some basic rules which you can follow to keep yourself safe from email viruses:

• Have and anti-virus program and keep it up to date

• Have the macro settings in Outlook turned off

• Never trust an attachment - no matter who it comes from.

• Do not open an attachment unless you know WHY it was sent to you.

• Scan attachments with your virus program before opening.