If Your Suspiscious About An Email (W98)

[Hally]

Hi All. . . Does anyone know what one can do if they get an email that looks suspicious. I'm not sure where there is a site to check if certain emails are a virus. Because you dont open it do you ??? I right click & look in the properties but I never know what I looking for exactly. I was expecting to hit properties & in it there would be the word "Klez" or "Loveletter" etc but NO. . . whats the routine for checking emails! Anyone Please


<font color=blue>&lt;&lt;Hally&gt;&gt;
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[Paul S]

Which virus scanner do you use? I use Norton 2002 and this scans everything that comes and goes.

<font color=green>Paul</font color=green>

[Hally]

I use VET AntiVirus <a target="_blank" href=http://www.vet.com.au/>http://www.vet.com.au/</a> it's very good & I get the updates nearly 3 or 4 times a week so I'm fairly safe, but I still need to beware & check unknown emails


<font color=blue>&lt;&lt;Hally&gt;&gt;
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[TonyKlein]

Hally,

- Disable the Preview Pane to prevent Outlook Express from downloading mail messages with potentially unsafe content. Viewing email messages with the Preview Pane can cause viruses to activate:

Select View, then Layout from the menu.
Uncheck the box Show Preview Pane in the Preview Pane section.
Click the OK button to save the change.

Now, from the Tools menu, select Options...
From there, select the Read tab.
Deselect the box for Automatically download message when viewing in the Preview Pane.

And to read such email safely in Outlook Express after turning off the preview pane,
*right*-click on the email, select Properties from the drop-down menu, click Details, then click Message Source.
You'll be able to see the headers and
the body of the message (including the HTML and its tags) without it doing anything else. The end result here is the same as "View Source" when dealing with web pages.

- Change your email setup so that Outlook Express won't automatically try to run any scripting or ActiveX content that you receive in your mail:

Open Outlook Express

- Go to the Tools menus
- Select Options
- Click on the Security tab
- Under Security Zones, choose Restricted Sites Zone

Press OK

[Hally]

Thanks Tony for your great reply! Luckily I had all these tips you gave me done already, I've always run under the restricted zone. I used to have the Preview Panel in OE open until I found out that a virus can just start even without your knowledge aarrggghh, lots of people still use it though not knowing the danger of it, maybe reading this will help them. . . Thanks Again


<font color=blue>&lt;&lt;Hally&gt;&gt;
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[TonyKlein]

You're welcome, Hally.

Bt the way, this preview pane vulnerability is greatly diminished, when all Windows security updates have been applied.

But I'm sure that many people have never been there at al...

[Hally]

Hi Tony! your words "preview pane vulnerability is greatly diminished, when all Windows security updates have been applied" I didn't know that one & I have got everything on board that MS have to offer. But most folks wouldn't have even been to MS Windows Updates. For Those People click tools in IE & click Windows Update when on that site look for updates link & click it. . . /images/forums/icons/wink.gif Thanks Tony


<font color=blue>&lt;&lt;Hally&gt;&gt;
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[TonyKlein]

What I'm talking about, is this one: <a target="_blank" href=http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-020.ASP>Incorrect MIME Header Can Cause IE to Execute E-mail Attachment</a>

IE 6.0 and IE 5.01 and 5.5 (providing the latter two have Service Pack 2 installed), contain the patch already, so they're protected against this particular vulnerability.

But I'm sure lots of people are running unpatched versions of IE.

[Hally]

Phew I have IE6.0 Thank You Tony


<font color=blue>&lt;&lt;Hally&gt;&gt;
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