Re: filmscanners: Filmscanners: OT: E-mail virus

["Moreno Polloni" <mp@dccnet.com>]

> >> Well, you're playing an online form of Russian Roulette
> >> then. Some of the recent rash of viruses attach themselves
> >> to web pages. Click on the right link, and you're hit! And,
> >> you probably won't know about it until for some time. Unless
> >> of course, the virus trashes your system.
>
> If you have a decent firewall set up, and the right security settings on
> your browser, it won't happen. And the 'auto-executing' viruses attached
> to HTML emails aren't an issue, as I've patched Outlook and have
> disabled the MS Script Host (which is the root of most of these
> problems). I also now run the Outlook add-in which automatically
> converts *all* HTML mails to plain text before I read them.

In your previous message, you mentioned that since your ISP virus checks
their mail server, it means you cannot receive a virus. I merely pointed out
that viruses propagate by means other than email.

Even though a firewall and high security settings on your browser can
greatly reduce the risk, hackers are frequently discovering and exploiting
security holes in the OS, browser, and email clients. With the precautions
you've taken, you're in a much lower risk category than the average user,
but I don't think that anyone is totally immune.