Spam? Or simple mistake?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wrinkly
  • Start date Start date
W

Wrinkly

Recently I have had several messages in my inbox that puzzle me. They are
sent by an unknown person to another unknown with completely different
addresses to mine. So far I can recall 3 or 4 - apparently unconnected with
each other.

Naturally I don't open them, but verify their content from the lower window
which shows the message when it is highlighted in the upper section.

Questions. 1). Is reading them without opening them safe the way I do it?
2). Is this an attempted scam or is it a failure by
Hotmail/Yahoo or whoever and something we have to live with( I assume I am
not alone in getting mail like this)?

Thank you,

Wrinkly.
 
Reading messages in the Preview pane is the equivalent of opening the
messages.

Tip: Disable Preview pane by default and Delete any such messages, unopened,
before enabling Preview pane again. (You can customize your toolbar to add
a Preview button allowing you to enable/disable it as needed.)
 
It is probably spam but it is difficult to be sure based on the information
provided.

If you have a good antivirus program then it is probably safe to open them,
even if the email scanning is not used. If you want to be sure then you can
do some or all of the following, but most experts will probably say they are
not necessary.

You can turn off the preview pane; have you done that or at least know how
to? Next, go to "Tools | Read" and then check the box (select the option to)
"Read all messages in plain text". Then if you right-click the message and
select "Properties" at the bottom of the context menu, then you can look at
the raw message with headers and everything. If you know what HTML is and
you see no HTML, then you know the message has no malicious code.

There is another option that is on by default so that pictures are not shown
by default, but that is for spam, it is generally has no affect on malicious
messages.
 
Hello,

Just to thank you both for your help. I've removed the preview pane and
deleted the iffy messages just to be sure.

Regards,

Wrinkly.
 
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