Practical E-mail protection from viruses and worms: Part 1

Here's some practical and invaluable steps you can take to
protect your e-mail today from viruses and worms. Part 1

1. Change your Windows settings so that you can see the
true file extensions. For example, on Windows machines,
open Windows Explorer. Under the View menu, select Options.
Select "Display the Full MS-DOS path in the title bar." You
can also get to this by clicking on My Computer, then View,
then Options, then the View tab. Never click on a file that
ends in .exe or .pif or .vbs as these are files that launch
programs. Even MS Word .doc files can be programmed to harm
your computer, so while you do not need to be paranoid, you
do need to be vigilant. Never open a file attachments from
people you don't know, or where the email somehow seems
strange. Your intuition is probably correct.

2. Create a phony contact record within your email address
book. If a worm virus gets onto your computer, it typically
heads straight for your email address book. It then
replicates itself and sends itself to everyone in your
address book, thus sending infected emails to all your
friends and associates. Use that fact to alert yourself
when/if a virus slips past your anti-virus precautions!
First, open your address book and click on "new contact."
In the window where you would enter a FIRST name, type in:
000_ (three zeroes followed by an underscore, which is
located next to your zero key). In the box where it prompts
you to enter the new email address, type:
Wormalert2003@leapmail.net.

If your program tells you this is not a valid address just
say 'yes' to add it, or click OK. Here's what you've done
and why it works: the "name" 000_ will be placed at the top
of your address book as entry #1. This will be where the
worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your
friends. But when it tries to send itself to 000_ it will
be undeliverable because of the phony email address you
entered. If the first attempt fails (which it will because
of the phony address), the worm goes no further and your
friends will not be infected. Here's the second great
advantage of this method: if an email cannot be delivered,
you will be notified of this, because you will receive a
MAILER DAEMON in your Inbox.

So, if you ever get an email telling you that an email
addressed to Wormalert2003@alertme.com could not be
delivered, you know right away that a worm has infected
your system. You can then take steps to get rid of it!

3. Choose an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that offers
virus filtering on all email. This means that your ISP
should be able to catch and delete messages that have
viruses or worms attached to them. Most ISPs will then send
notice to you that the email did not get through because of
the attachment. For a list of ISPs who provide specialized
add-ons such as anti-spam and anti-virus filtering
services, go to http://www.choosinganisp.com.

4. Educate other people within your company and/or
household how to scan for viruses on the computer. Teach
children how to spot suspicious email attachments.

5. Get in the real habit of backing up data. If you have
had virus infections in the past, chances are that your
backup disks are also infected and need to be scanned for
viruses. Better be safe than sorry!

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Chris Kaminski has been working in computer repair and web
development for the last 20 years. Kaminski is CEO and head
technician for Computerguyslive.com, an online computer
repair company based in Asheville, NC. Visit Computer Guys
Live online for experienced online virus scans and computer
repair at http://www.computerguyslive.com and bookmark our
invaluable wireless connection guide at
http://computerguyslive.com/content/wireless/wirelessindex.a
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The Editor of this blog is Barrie Segal is the founder of the AppealNow.com™ website at http://www.appealnow.com. He is also the founder of http://www.nowdatarescue.com/ and http://www.nowdatarescue.com