E-mail problems

Security with E-mail . . .

And yes... these are all real questions...

Q.I have heard about I_LOVE_YOU and RESUMÉ and various other unpleasantries. What's the scoop?

A. In the good old days only a limited number of programs could actually run (execute) on your computer, and you needed to start them yourself. Now there are many more different types, and depending on circumstances, can start without any intervention on your behalf - and you can receive these via E-mail.

Q. What absolutely basic precautions should I take?

A. Use a good Anti Virus program and update it very regularly. We use Symantec (Norton Anti Virus) - but there are others. Never, ever click or open an E-mail attachment that you are not 101% sure of being safe.

Q. How do I determine if I am "in danger"?

A. Microsoft's Outlook (Express) is the biggest culprit. The virus, worm etc is written in a special Microsoft programming language (vbScript and related) and relies on Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express to activate itself and spread to other computers.

The partial? fixes require some expert intervention to edit the registry (definitely not for beginners) so we can only suggest that you refer to Microsoft themselves at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/virus/vbslvltr.asp - not very satisfying, but...

Q. What about Eudora?

A. By default, Windows Eudora is a good bit more bullet proof. Version 4.2 and above already warn you when you seek to launch a wide array of attachments. The following instructions can be used in Eudora 4.2.1 and above to change Eudora's settings to also warn for .lnk and .vbs files:

Copy this entire URL (including the brackets)
<x-Eudora-option:WarnLaunchExtensions=exe|com|bat|cmd|pif|htm|do|xl|reg|lnk|vbs|>
Create a "new message" in Eudora and paste in the URL
Alt-Click the URL to bring up the Change Option dialog
Check to make sure the dialog's "New Value" field contains this:
exe|com|bat|cmd|pif|htm|do|xl|reg|lnk|vbs|
with no spaces and ending with a vertical bar, then click "OK"
If you see "%" symbols in the New Value field, edit the field to match the value in step 4.

For versions of Eudora earlier than 4.2.1, follow these instructions: Close Eudora, then open the "Eudora.ini" file in your Eudora program folder with a text editor, such as Notepad. Find the line that has the text "[Settings]" on it, and add the following line right after that one:

WarnLaunchExtensions=exe|com|bat|cmd|pif|htm|do|xl|reg|lnk|vbs|

Make sure you use the above text exactly, including the vertical bar that follows "vbs".

The Eudora security page can be found at http://www.eudora.com/security.html