Seeking advice in respect of suspected e-mails Thread poster: Rajan Chopra
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Rajan Chopra
India
Local time: 15:41
Member (2008)
English to Hindi
+ ...
Of late, I have been receiving a number of e-mails from strangers suspected to be having virus. I am just at a loss to understand why the people are indulging in such a dirty game because, I believe, this might severely damage our computers. What will they be gaining if our systems crash due to such mails?
I just want to ascertain whether mere opening of such mails can cause damage or whether the damage will result only if we download the attachments enclosed with such mails? Wha... See more Of late, I have been receiving a number of e-mails from strangers suspected to be having virus. I am just at a loss to understand why the people are indulging in such a dirty game because, I believe, this might severely damage our computers. What will they be gaining if our systems crash due to such mails?
I just want to ascertain whether mere opening of such mails can cause damage or whether the damage will result only if we download the attachments enclosed with such mails? What is the way out for such a menace? How can we make it sure that a certain e-mail contains virus without opening the same?
Thanks in anticipation.
[Edited at 2004-10-10 07:30] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Prisma
English to Swedish
+ ...
| Suspect e-mails the short answer | Oct 10, 2004 |
Why? Because hackers can. That's the only reason. How? Because the most common operativesystem for PC's was not designed to be safe, but to be sold en masse.
What you should do? Never, ever open e-mails you do not expect to receive. Never, ever open attachments you do not expect to receive. Invest time and money in learning about viruses, worms, trojan horses etc. Purchase an antivirus programme you find easy to update. If on a network, invest in a firewall.
| | | | MLeiria 
Portugal
Local time: 11:11
Member (2005)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Auto-generated messages | Oct 10, 2004 |
What you are receiving are probably auto-generated messages and the "theoretical" senders are not voluntarily responsible for it.
They are just infected with a virus that spreads through their adress lists.
The dangerous part in this kind of messages is the attachment, not the message in itself.
As for stopping receiving them, there is nothing one can do. Just hope everyone who as your contact on their list starts using a good anti-virus.
| | | | Ashar
Pakistan
Local time: 15:11
English to Urdu
+ ...
| Analyse the subject and size of suspected mail | Oct 10, 2004 |
I have been also facing the same. It's a virus which automatically sends messages to various e-mail addresses by stealing the subject of your e-mail.
Note that the size of the attachments are almost same. For example, if a suspected message has attachment size upto 40 KB, chances are that similar messages would have similar sizes. When you open the message, there is fake text which says your message has been scanned by anti virus.
Fortunately, Yahoo has strong anti vi... See more I have been also facing the same. It's a virus which automatically sends messages to various e-mail addresses by stealing the subject of your e-mail.
Note that the size of the attachments are almost same. For example, if a suspected message has attachment size upto 40 KB, chances are that similar messages would have similar sizes. When you open the message, there is fake text which says your message has been scanned by anti virus.
Fortunately, Yahoo has strong anti virus mechanism and when you try to open the attachment, a warning would be showed against virus.
When a user opens its mail account on a public system ( infected)its own account becomes vulnerable as the e-mail address is stored and memorized by the virus. ▲ Collapse
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Jeremy Smith
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:11
Member (2003)
French to English
+ ...
If you're on Windows XP, download the Service Pack 2 from the microsoft website. This automatically puts the Windows firewall on and gives further protection to your computer.
Get an antivirus programme: AVG Antivirus is good (www.grisoft.com) and free of charge. Update it very regularly.
Don't open attachments from suspect sources, and you should be alright.
| | | | Rajan Chopra
India
Local time: 15:41
Member (2008)
English to Hindi
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Thank you :o) | Oct 10, 2004 |
Thanks to all of you for your valuable guidance.
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You may want to screen all e-mails before downloading from your provider. Try MailWasher Pro. You can find it at www.firetrust.com. You'll never have to worry about it again, and you can get rid of spam with it too.
Good luck!
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