Is E-mail scanning neccessary?

  • Thread starter Thread starter PhotoDan
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PhotoDan

I know this is a newbie question but I really don'y know the answer and
can't find it at any of the scanner websites.

I've been told several times that e-mail scanning is not needed since the
main application "shield" will spot the intruder and warn you before damage
can be done. Almost all scanners seem to be emphasizing e-mail scanning and
so I thought I'd ask.

As a side note, I do not, under any circumstances, open attachments unless
they're from close friends who have used a code word in the header. I use
AVG free and see almost everyone having problems with the e-mail scanner.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Photodan
 
PhotoDan said:
I know this is a newbie question but I really don'y know the answer and
can't find it at any of the scanner websites.

I've been told several times that e-mail scanning is not needed since the
main application "shield" will spot the intruder and warn you before
damage can be done. Almost all scanners seem to be emphasizing e-mail
scanning and so I thought I'd ask.

As a side note, I do not, under any circumstances, open attachments unless
they're from close friends who have used a code word in the header. I use
AVG free and see almost everyone having problems with the e-mail scanner.
Click to expand...

I don't use an email scanner - but neither do I open attachments from close
friends....

How do you know that your friends aren't infected? Code word - hah!

Si.
 
Si said:
I don't use an email scanner - but neither do I open attachments from
close friends....

How do you know that your friends aren't infected? Code word - hah!

Si.
Click to expand...

I should have added that I do open attachments, but only after scanning them
with an on-demand scanner first.

Si.
 
Si, you bring up a good point. I don't know if they're infected and so I
suppose their putting a "code" in the header is ineffective after all. I'll
stop that right now. No more attachments, regardless of from whom they get
deleted. I'm interested in your on-demand scanner. What application do you
use for that? Is that a feature I can activate in AVG?

Thanks, Photodan
 
I know this is a newbie question but I really don'y know the answer and
can't find it at any of the scanner websites.

I've been told several times that e-mail scanning is not needed since the
main application "shield" will spot the intruder and warn you before damage
can be done. Almost all scanners seem to be emphasizing e-mail scanning and
so I thought I'd ask.

As a side note, I do not, under any circumstances, open attachments unless
they're from close friends who have used a code word in the header. I use
AVG free and see almost everyone having problems with the e-mail scanner.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Photodan
Click to expand...

I use MailWasher Pro to sift through email headers on the server and
mark for deletion all with attachments [Content-Type: multipart] as well
as several other criteria, so no AV scanning is necessary here.
 
Si, you bring up a good point. I don't know if they're infected and so I
suppose their putting a "code" in the header is ineffective after all. I'll
stop that right now. No more attachments, regardless of from whom they get
deleted. I'm interested in your on-demand scanner. What application do you
use for that? Is that a feature I can activate in AVG?

Thanks, Photodan
Click to expand...

If you're not interested in any more attachments,
why bother to scan them at all before deletion?
 
PhotoDan said:
Si, you bring up a good point. I don't know if they're infected and so I
suppose their putting a "code" in the header is ineffective after all.
I'll stop that right now. No more attachments, regardless of from whom
they get deleted. I'm interested in your on-demand scanner. What
application do you use for that? Is that a feature I can activate in AVG?

Thanks, Photodan
Click to expand...

Rather than open attachments, save them to disk. Then right click on the
file itself and choose 'Scan with AVG free' - this is on demand scanning, as
far as I'm aware.

Si.
 
I know this is a newbie question but I really don'y know the answer and
can't find it at any of the scanner websites.

I've been told several times that e-mail scanning is not needed since the
main application "shield" will spot the intruder and warn you before damage
can be done. Almost all scanners seem to be emphasizing e-mail scanning and
so I thought I'd ask.

As a side note, I do not, under any circumstances, open attachments unless
they're from close friends who have used a code word in the header. I use
AVG free and see almost everyone having problems with the e-mail scanner.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Photodan
Click to expand...

IMHO:

If you use outlook, or open attachments, YES.

hth,

tom @ www.ChopURL.com
 
I know this is a newbie question but I really don'y know the answer and
can't find it at any of the scanner websites.

I've been told several times that e-mail scanning is not needed since the
main application "shield" will spot the intruder and warn you before damage
can be done. Almost all scanners seem to be emphasizing e-mail scanning and
so I thought I'd ask.

As a side note, I do not, under any circumstances, open attachments unless
they're from close friends who have used a code word in the header. I use
AVG free and see almost everyone having problems with the e-mail scanner.
Click to expand...

The simplest and best thing to do is to use a sane email app which
won't auto-run malicious code or allow you to run attackments.
Examples include Pegasus and Mozilla email. Then scanning email is
unnecessary and actually ridiculous.

Simply delete all unsolicited attackments. It's as easy as that. Or
choose to Save attachments from friends that you believe are probably
ok. Scan such attachments on demand using a top notch av scanner such
as KAV. But wait a couple of days and then update KAV and scan. That
gets you past the "day zero" problem with new malware where av may not
yet have detection. Even better (and it doesn't cost anything), you
can choose to upload files for av scanning by several good and top
notch scanners.

Be aware of the fact that av scanner vendors have profits in mind and
not your best interests. They would much rather sell you email
scanning than tell you the truth ... that it's worthless if you just
do a couple of things right and use your head.


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg
 
from the wonderful said:
I know this is a newbie question but I really don'y know the answer and
can't find it at any of the scanner websites.

I've been told several times that e-mail scanning is not needed since the
main application "shield" will spot the intruder and warn you before damage
can be done. Almost all scanners seem to be emphasizing e-mail scanning and
so I thought I'd ask.

As a side note, I do not, under any circumstances, open attachments unless
they're from close friends who have used a code word in the header. I use
AVG free and see almost everyone having problems with the e-mail scanner.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

It's a massive waste of bandwidth even to download them from your ISP -
get your ISP to scan them and bin them there (some of us are not on
broadband!). But if your ISP lets them through, there are several ways
of getting them scanned .. an 'email scanner' is just the easiest one
for novices to set up / use (assuming they don't use an exotic email
reader).
 
PhotoDan said:
I know this is a newbie question but I really don'y know the answer and
can't find it at any of the scanner websites.

I've been told several times that e-mail scanning is not needed since the
main application "shield" will spot the intruder and warn you before
damage can be done. Almost all scanners seem to be emphasizing e-mail
scanning and so I thought I'd ask.

As a side note, I do not, under any circumstances, open attachments unless
they're from close friends who have used a code word in the header.
Click to expand...

I especially do not open attachments from friends. I am on their address
list and viruses use these lists to distribute themselves. The only
exception is if I have prior notice that it is coming, and the email body
verifies the previous conversation.

My ISP offers an email scanning service for a couple of dollars a month, and
it seems to work fine.
 
I use
AVG free and see almost everyone having problems with the e-mail scanner.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Photodan
Click to expand...

To cure the problems with the AVG mail scanner,do this:
Go to
C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\AVG7\QUEUE\IN\10110
and delete all .emc files.Got this from another poster and
it worked for me.Then re-enable your AVG mail scanning
options.If you don't want to get rid of the .emc files,move
them to another location on your HD,say a temporary folder.

John
 
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