Attached Link: http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/management/qt/avoidvirusts.htm

PS: *YAYYY!!!!! I remembered to copy before pressing "Post Reply"!!*

Quote - Acadia..."whats the difference"

Mailwasher allows you to delete mails direct from the mail server before it hits your inbox.

Its more secure, you can a delete emails with viruses [most avaerage about 50k and have titles like "your account info" so you know what they are] before it hits your inbox. Which is always safer.

How is it more secure? Virus come in the form of attachments. Unless I'm behind the times and there are new ways to destribute email viruses other than by attachment, I've never heard of a virus being transmitted to email any other way.

If you don't open the attachment you won't get the virus. If you know enough to delete that kind of email using Mailwasher, then you should know enough to hit "delete" if you saw that same email in your in box.

The same goes for emails that have links asking you to go and verify your account. If you use mailwasher and delete that email from the web, you should be smart enough to click "Delete" in your in box.

Just having an email delivered to your inbox doesn't mean anything unless you open the attachment, click a link or hit "reply".

Quote - Plus you don't get HTML spam emails with popups or trackers which show your account is live. It's very easy to call an activex script via an HTML email and hijack your home page.

I've had loads of email spam and I've never had a popup result from an email.

I also have ActiveX disabled. I don't know what it is, but when I got my first computer, my then b/f told me that I should always disable ActiveX. So I've always done that.

I've only had 3 computer viruses and all 3 happened the day I installed Windows 2000 on my desktop a few years ago. I connected to the internet to get my virus updates and as soon as I connected I was notified that I had some virus. I cleaned it and tried again, and BAM! Another virus immediately upon connecting to the internet. I cleaned that one too and logged on to get my updates and BAM! Same virus! I just kept up with my download then cleaned the virus again.

The key to staying virus free are:

1. Good antivirus software with updated signatures;

2. Firewall if you aren't behind a router (no need to have both as it's redundant);

3. Don't open any attachment unless you know whom it's from and you were expecting it.

4. If you receive email with an attachment from someone you don't know, delete it immediately.

5. If you send email with an attachment to someone, let them know you'll be sending it so they don't think it's a virus.

6. Don't click links in an email asking you to verify account information;

7. Insist that those you give your email address to exclude you from including you in their bulk mailings or bulk forward mailings.

Explain to people that forwarding and bulk mailing is a high risk activity and can result in a virus. Every time you forward an email there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their email addresses & names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every email address that has come across their computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit.

8. In the event you get emails containing worms (and your antivirus should catch those), do what I do and send an email to every single person in your address book titled "PLEASE VIRUS SCAN YOUR COMPUTER BECAUSE YOU HAVE A VIRUS!" and tell them to send a new email (not to forward that one) to everyone in their address book asking them to do the same thing, and have each of them do the same thing etc.

9. If you have someone who "forgets" to exclude you from their forwards or bulk mailings, be blunt and tell them to delete you from their address book. I had to do that to someone the other day because I have asked them two or three times to not send me forward emails and they still "forget" and I end up getting sent one occasionally. All it takes is one!

There is a link attached that gives more tips. It talks about reading your email on the web instead of in your computer in box, but if you're savouy it shouldn't matter where you read your email.

Message edited on: 02/24/2006 23:55

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi