Re: E-mail virus stuff killing my office

From: Crusty \(-: Old B_at_stard :-\) (B_at_stard)
Date: 05/01/04 

Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 22:15:17 -0400

Good, thoughtful response! 

-- 
Regards:
Richard Urban
aka  Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
<Ben M. Schorr>; "MVP-OneNote" <bens@bogusaddress.mvp> wrote in message 
news:e2c049c44f594c239faeaa864a3a91cc@ghytred.com...
> On 30 Apr 2004 14:37, timbirr@mailcity.com (Tim J. Johson) wrote:
>>Try not to open e-mails that might be infected, but sometimes it is
>>tough to tell and to be honest, none of us are that computer savvy, and
>>we DO need to use our e-mail.
>
> It's easy to tell after a while.  First of all anything that has a .EXE,
> SCR, .PIF or other such executable attachment is automatically trash.
> Delete it without a second thought.
> Only those things with .ZIP files are worth considering, among the 
> potentially
> dangerous ones.  Then you just have to look at the sender: 
> "JoeBlow@nowhere.com?"
> I have no idea who that is or why they'd be sending me an attachment.
> [Delete].
> "Mom@familiardomain.com"  sends me a message that says "Here are the 
> pictures
> of Britney I promised you!"  I don't care that it claims to be from my
> mom, she wouldn't be sending pictures like that.  [delete]
> "importantclient@theirdomain.com" sends me a .zip file with a message
> that says "Here are the revised contracts we talked about.  Look them 
> over,
> if they're o.k. have Mike sign them and either fax or mail them back.
> Call me if you have any questions, thanks!"  Well...assuming we talked
> about some revised contracts that sounds legit to me.
> You just have to exercise some common sense.
>
> ?  What kind of attachment is it?
> ?  Who is it claiming to be from?
> ?  Would that person be sending me an attachment like that?
> ?  Does the text of the message make sense?
>
> If I get a message claiming to be from my dad but with bad grammar and
> lots of misspellings then I'd be very suspicious because that's not how
> he writes.  If a message with my sister's address as From comes in that
> starts off "Dear Friend" then I think that's probably bogus.
> When in doubt, contact the alleged sender BEFORE you open the attachment
> just to confirm that they sent it.
>
>>Of course we use MS Outlook. And I guess the answer is NOT TO, but I
>>think I would have trouble convincing the boss of that....
>
>
> What version of Outlook are you using?  The more recent versions 2002
> SP3 and 2003 in particular, are actually quite secure against viruses.
>
>
>>We have good Norton antivirus that is updated each week (sometimes
>>several times a week) good firewall protection, etc. But we still
>>manage to get these darn things.
>
>
> Should be updated each day.  Our antivirus software automatically checks
> for updates every hour and actually does get updated at least once a day.
>
>
>>Not being any type of any expert, I am coming to you folks for help.
>
>
> Good choice! :)
>
>
>>Sometimes I do the following before opening an e-mail. Does doing this
>>without yet opening the e-mail expose you to any virus? Or do you have
>>to actually "open" the message for exposure:
>>
>>1. Right Click on the e-mail as it lies in our inbox....BEFORE opening
>>it.
>>
>>2. When you right click on it, a dropdown menu comes up and at the
>>bottom of that menu is "options.
>>
>>3. When you click on options, you get to see the "internet headers."
>>
>>4. Scrolling down those headers, you can see where the e-mail
>>originated from, whether it is a forged address and whether it has
>>"spam hits" etc.
>>
>>So, many times you would be able to determine if the e-mail is
>>legitimate, without actually opening it.
>>
>>My question is, if it is "virus-laden," would just checking the header
>>still expose you to "catching the virus."
>
> No, that's fine.  You probably don't even need to do that if you follow
> the guidelines I mention above.
>
> --
> -Ben-
> Ben M. Schorr, MVP-OneNote
> OneNote FAQ: http://home.hawaii.rr.com/schorr/Computers/OneNoteFAQ.htm
> SchorrTech Blog: http://www.thespoke.net/MyBlog/bschorr/MyBlog.aspx
>
>

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