why do i need an email scanner?

[Nick FitzGerald]

PS. Does anyone here know, how do you get a cat to stop insisting on sitting in front
of the monitor?<BG>

That's easy -- you swivel round in your seat and start watching the TV.

The cat will then work out the place to sit on the coffee table that best
obstructs your view of that screen...

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

I see you are a genuine idiot.

Did it not occur to you that I may only use OE for reading News?

You keep asking if I'd "forgotten", or if something didn't "occur" to
me. Of course, it "occurred" to me. But tell me honestly: how many
people do you know who use OE for news and use something else for
email? I can't think of anyone - except now you. But you *are* a
special case, aren't you?

And, OE can be made as safe as any other MUA _IF_ you know what you

That's a big IF, as you typed.

are doing -- my comment about using a "genuinely safe Email
client" was aimed at those who cannot/will not do anything short of
"install and use" (i.e. not do any custom configuration beyond
entering the necessary Email service options to collect their
mail).

If everyone on the planet knew how to safely configure their computers
and software, this newsgroup would not exist and we would not be
having this conversation.

You are clearly inadequately intellected to partake in meaningful
discussions of these issues...

Perhaps it is your method of terms usage that is not up to par.
"Network traffic" can be anywhere.

I mean at the network traffic level _on the client_.

Oh. If only you had said that first - those three extra words - I
would not have been inadequately intellected to ask.

In simple terms, a proper client-side Email traffic scanner hooks
into the network stack at a very low level and monitors the traffic
for various tell-tale signs (TCP traffic to port 25 being a good
one for SMTP sending).

See? "proper client-side Email traffic scanner" would have removed the
ambiguity of your previous post.

I appreciate your use of "simple terms" - not for me as I am not
intellectually challenged - but for hundreds of others who may have
less of an understanding of the matters being discussed, and are
reading along.

You started by harping on the minor ambiguity of my post about not
reading mail in HTML, and then proceed to toss all sorts of
ambiguities around yourself. <sigh>

 

[Julian]

I guess I'm not completely understanding what difference it would make, if
the result is that the virus is deleted. I don't think that most people are
going to care whether the virus is removed *before* being downloaded, or
*after* being downloaded, as long as the end result is that the virus is
removed. Perhaps I'm missing something here?

--Mike

I was just trying to point out that you couldn't have seen "client-based
Email virus scanners stop and red flag Email viruses *before* they were
allowed to download" because there is no way they could tell whether the
email contained a virus or not until they had downloaded it.

 

[Julian]

So that's a 'yes' then?

No, it's a "sometimes". Because it's possible for script code to execute
without writing anything to disk, and that code *could* do something
nasty. It probably wouldn't manage to be a virus, but it could hijack
your Internet Explorer home page or something like that.

 

[--Mike]

I was just trying to point out that you couldn't have seen "client-based
Email virus scanners stop and red flag Email viruses *before* they were
allowed to download" because there is no way they could tell whether the
email contained a virus or not until they had downloaded it.

Got it! : ) Thanks for the clarification. Poor wording on my part : (

--Mike

 

[David W. Hodgins]

That's easy -- you swivel round in your seat and start watching the TV.
The cat will then work out the place to sit on the coffee table that best
obstructs your view of that screen...

My TV is in the next room. Tried going to watch tv, expecting him to follow me
like he usually does. After about 15 minutes, I check and he's sitting quite
happily, in my chair, watching the screen saver!

Most things I've tried, such as feeding him, don't work when he seems to
understand, I want him to let me work at the computer for what he considers
to be too long.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

 

[David W. Hodgins]

Double-sided sticky tape and ingenuity.

Heh, Heh! That might help when he occasionally decides my desk needs
cleaning too! He'll sit there, and slide everything he can move, off of the
desk, one item at a time.

Thanks for the idea.

Regards, Dave Hodgins