attachment scanning.

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phil

I have a question, stupid maybe!! Why do all you mvp`s warn us, all the
time ,not to open attachments to emails?? Doesn`t my AV, Norton, scan the
attachments in the same way it scans the incoming emails ,to which it is
attached ???
Dumb question, but I don`t understand.
Thank you. Phil
One more question. If the attachments are not scanned, how can you scan them
before opening them. No computer guru, explain in plain language please.
 
Hi,

Because opening attachments to emails is now the #1 way users become
infected. Although many antivirus programs (Norton's included) feature email
scanning, they are not always perfect. I would suggest that if you receive
an attachment that you were not expecting, that you save the attachment (not
open it) to the local drive (I like to save to the desktop) and then (a)
update your antivirus software, then right-click the file and scan it
manually and/or (b) contact the sender of the file to see if they sent it to
you intentionally. A common method for a virus to use to propagate itself
(make copies and send to others) is to replicate itself and send it to
everyone in the infected users address book without the infected users
knowledge.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
I have a question, stupid maybe!! Why do all you mvp`s warn us, all the
time ,not to open attachments to emails?? Doesn`t my AV, Norton, scan the
attachments in the same way it scans the incoming emails ,to which it is
attached ???
Dumb question, but I don`t understand.
Thank you. Phil
One more question. If the attachments are not scanned, how can you scan them
before opening them. No computer guru, explain in plain language please.
Click to expand...

Auto-scan protection is not always as complete as a manual scan of a single
file. Better to find out that a file has a virus *before* it has a chance
to infect the system instead of after double-clicking it. It takes an extra
few seconds to manually scan a single file, it doesn't hurt and it is one
more layer of safety.
 
A good antivirus program should warn you of a virus-laden email attachment.
However, if your antivirus program is not setup properly, you can still open
a virus attachment. For example, not ten minutes ago I checked my email and
Norton warned of a virus attachment. I right-clicked on the attachment to view
its properties, and lo and behold it was a malicious executable files which would
corrupt my Norton antivirus program and disable it! If I had actually opened
the attachment, Norton would have become corrupt and the virus would have
entered my computer and done its damage.

I'm highly suspicious of any email attachments I receive from anyone! When
I do get an email with an attachment, I view the properties of the email message
and see if indeed it may be from a source I'm aware of.

I would venture to guess that perhaps 99.9% of email attachments, from
unknown sources, are malicious in nature and their sole purpose is cause
you considerable misery by corrupting your computer.

The question you should ask is why would anyone open an attachment
they weren't expecting?

--
Nicholas

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| I have a question, stupid maybe!! Why do all you mvp`s warn us, all the
| time ,not to open attachments to emails?? Doesn`t my AV, Norton, scan the
| attachments in the same way it scans the incoming emails ,to which it is
| attached ???
| Dumb question, but I don`t understand.
| Thank you. Phil
| One more question. If the attachments are not scanned, how can you scan them
| before opening them. No computer guru, explain in plain language please.
|
|
|
 
Thanks Rick. I am very careful with attachments,will be even more careful
now.
Thanks again. Phil
 
Phil,
Regarding automatic email scanning, maybe maybe not, it depends how you've
configured the software.
Mine does, but as a matter of habit, I always right-click on the downloaded
attachment's file icon and click 'scan for viruses' on the drop down menu.
Chek
 
phil said:
I have a question, stupid maybe!! Why do all you mvp`s warn us, all the
time ,not to open attachments to emails?? Doesn`t my AV, Norton, scan the
attachments in the same way it scans the incoming emails ,to which it is
attached ???
Dumb question, but I don`t understand.
Thank you. Phil
One more question. If the attachments are not scanned, how can you scan them
before opening them. No computer guru, explain in plain language please.
Click to expand...
Additionally, consider this... What if you failed to do a daily update of
your antivirus ? One failure, one attachment opening, you're infected. Or
the antivirus has not updated in time to warn you, even by a manual scan
described above. Same result. The ultimate responsibility is yours.
Unknown, unverifiable attachment opening is fast becoming taboo--if you
still want a functional computer.

Malv
 
I have a question, stupid maybe!! Why do all you mvp`s warn us, all
the time ,not to open attachments to emails?? Doesn`t my AV, Norton,
scan the attachments in the same way it scans the incoming emails ,to
which it is attached ???
Dumb question, but I don`t understand.
Thank you. Phil
One more question. If the attachments are not scanned, how can you
scan them before opening them. No computer guru, explain in plain
language please.
Click to expand...

It from when a virus is released til the A/V vendor can issue an updated
signature file. And, Many AV's default to auto-updating once a week.

So, evn though it may scan your incoming e-mail and attachments. It may
miss a brand new virus. So, it's better to just not open un-solititated
e-mails.

--

David

"Due to Viewer dicretion...
Graphic violence is advised"
 
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