Last updated on January 15th, 2018
Helpful safe email practices
To reduce the transmission of viruses here are some safe email practices.If you would like to have your email scanned for viruses before you get them, and after you send one, and you would like to have a domain name or already have one, then you could purchase a Hosting Account with ETI or InMotion Hosting, which scans the email on the server. This will prevent you from even receiving these emails with viruses.
You can lookup virus and Hoax information and get antivirus software at Symantec Anit-Virus Researchor at Trend Micro or at McAfee
Over the past few months many people have had their computers affected by problems caused by the unsafe use of email. Any email message you receive which includes an attachment might cause problems for your computer.
Receive an email with odd attachment?
Therefore, if you receive an email message containing an attachment, and did not expect it, or don’t know the person its from personally, do the following;
1. DON’T TOUCH THE ATTACHMENT. Don’t open it, don’t view it, don’t save it to disk.
2. Contact the person who sent it to you and verify they actually sent it to you.
3. Ask them what it is, specifically.
4. If you are at all unsure about it, contact the person you turn to if your computer is acting up. Contact your Network Administrator if you’re in an office. If you are at home, contact your ISP (Internet dial-up provider). DO NOT SEND THEM A COPY OF THE ATTACHMENT, describe it to them and then wait until they ask you for it.
5. If all else fails, send a message to [email protected]
describing the message you have received.
You *can* send a copy of the attachment to this address. The message will be investigated and you will receive a message back from SecurityAdivce.com with whatever information we can get about it.
Sending safe email attachments
If you are going to send someone an email message and include an attachment yourself, then do the following;
1. Before you send the message with the attachment, ALWAYS send the recipient a message telling them you are about to send them an attachment. This will, at least, let them know to expect a message with an attachment from you.
2. Avoid sending messages with attachments that contain executable code (codes that run things), like Word documents with macros. Instead of sending them a .DOC file, send them a .RTF version. This will avoid the embarrassment of you sending them a virus if you are already infected.
3. Run an Anti-virus product, but don’t rely on it to completely protect you. Specifically scan any file you are going to include as an attachment in an email before you send it to someone else. You may be sending someone a virus that has not been seen before by your Anti-virus vendor, so it may not be able to tell its a virus.
Always err on the side of using email safely.
This problem is not going away. You need to think of this like you think of locking your doors at night, or like you think about riding a bike on a busy street. There are safe ways, and unsafe ways, be smart, ask questions, and think before you click on things.
Keywords = safe email practices, virus, hoax, viruses, hoaxes