Keeping Your Computer Safe On The Internet
Viruses

Viruses Internet Explorer Anti-virus software Thunderstorms Firewall Spam

Anyone who uses the internet and sends and receives e-mail can get a virus and almost certainly will if not using an up to date antivirus program and following the cautions about viruses and attachments below.

NEVER open an email attachment - EVEN IF IT IS FROM SOMEONE YOU KNOW AND TRUST - unless you know exactly what the attachment is. Most viruses are spread this way, unknowingly, from people you DO know. While in the past, most viruses were carried in attachments with a .exe file extension, this is no longer the case. Attachments with extensions of .scr, .vbs, .pif are some of the current file types that are carrying viruses. Even Word documents (.doc) can contain macro viruses. Until recently, viruses were more easily detected because the attachment name and/or subject of the message were known to be associated with a particular virus. Newer viruses have the ability to randomly name the attachment and subject of the message. Some viruses appear as attachments with varying names depending on the day of the month. Others appear with names based on an infected file in the last machine they were sent from.

Other viruses such as Nimda and BadTrans.B can infect a computer just from viewing the message if you're using older versions of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express.

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