jas.net General Virus Safety Tips

All incoming email is scanned for viruses however it is a good idea to be extra cautions. With XP came the possability of getting a virus from just connecting to the internet. Blaster etc is an example of this.
1. Be suspicious of any attachment to an email. Text can't give you a virus but attachments can. Learn the filename conventions used. Filenames come in the form name.extention. If you receive an attachment with the name mymovie.mpg you know by the extention mpg that it is a mpeg movie named mymovie. Know the safe and unsafe extentions. A .mpg, .gif, .jpg, .avi, .mid, .wav are all safe extentions. Be extremely careful of any other ones.
Also, be aware that windows doesn't always report the correct extention. If the attachment name is goodpic.jpg.scr windows will often report only goodpic.jpg which looks ok but in fact the extention is .scr which could very well be a virus.

2. Never set your email program to automatically run anything. Outlook Express is the worse about automatically running a attachment. Be sure to disable this feature.

3. Keep up with the main viruses going around so you can know what to look for.

4. Keep a current updated anti-virus program on your computer. Be sure to update your virus profiles at least weekly but daily is better.