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Is it OK to open this Email Attachment?
People who create viruses are bottom-feeders who have no better use for their brains than devising programs engineered to cause havoc, chaos, pain and destruction. They are criminals, on a par with blackmailers, arsonists, terrorists and computer hackers. To date, they and their viruses have caused billions of dollars in damages worldwide in real dollars, real time and lost data.
Obviously, we at QuantumStep do not like viruses or their creators. We do not enjoy cleaning up the mess caused by viruses. However, we are here to help you by advising you how to avoid getting a virus, installing software that will help you detect and destroy incoming viruses, and, if it happens, cleaning up after a virus – debugging and sanitizing all your systems, and salvaging your data.
What is a Virus?
A virus is a small program that can arrive in your computer several ways including embedment in an email attachment (Click here to go right to the list of attachments you should and shouldn’t open), from tainted software (often “bootleg” copies), by hitching a ride on a floppy disc, or from a hacker who hacks into your system and leaves a “gift” for you.
A virus is an equal opportunity offender. A stranger can give it to you – and so can your mom or your best, most trusted friend. Or, a virus can be masked to look like it is coming from Mommy Dearest. Many viruses arrive in your email box because a virus has gained control of a victim’s email address book and mailed replicates of itself to everyone in the address book. Your address may be in hundreds – if not thousands – of address books around the world.
Guess what? You’re next!
Once in, the virus can go about its mischief immediately or wait silently for weeks or months until it “wakes up” and does its dirty work by pre-arranged signal.
What can you do?
Install reliable anti-virus software and update it regularly. The best software does this updating automatically.
And, remember what the Seven Dwarves said to Snow White? Don’t open the door to anyone you don’t know? (And what happened to her?) Same thing with viruses. Use common sense.
If an email arrives in your box in a language you don’t know, delete it.
If email arrives offering incredible porno, a lottery win, or a miracle cure and all you have to do is just open the attachment, delete it.
If you receive a document, memo or invoice from a stranger with an invitation to open the attachment, delete it.
When it doubt, delete it out.
The Email Attachment List
Before you open any attachments, make sure you know who is sending it to you and whether you are expecting it.
If you get an email with an attachment from someone you don’t know, and if there is no message in the body of the email, delete it immediately. Further, don’t open any attachment unless you know exactly what is contained inside.
Specifically, do not open any email attachments with following endings:
.exe .com .bat .vbs .bas .pif .scr
Even cute programs that show Christmas cards or other things can be infected with viruses and can damage your machine and erase files as well as sending out emails with virus in your name to all email addresses it finds on your machine. This includes screen savers sent to you without you requesting it.
You can generally open files with following extensions:
.pdf .jpg .gif .mp3 .txt .mpg .csv
Following samples are NO GOOD. Do not open them.
xyz.pdf.exe abc.jpg.com xxx.doc.pif zzz.xls.bas
Only the ending matters.
Do not get fooled by links to websites. Even though "www.yahoo.com" looks like a link to a website, the email program thinks it is an attachment. It is a program because it has a .com ending.
Word and Excel documents (files ending in .doc and .xls) could also contain viruses that can do damages by using the feature of Word and Excel called Macro. Macro is a way for a person to save multiple steps to be performed by Word or Excel and run at certain time.
Disable Macro in Word and Excel on your machines. This can be done by going into "Tools - Options - General Tab and checkmarking Macro Virus Protection."
Normally, people should not be sending you any documents containing
Macros. If you do receive one, Word or Excel will ask whether to Enable Macro. DO NOT ENABLE MACRO!!! Instead, check with a trusted advisor to determine whether this spreadsheet actually requires macros to work properly.
SIMPLE RULE: WHEN IN DOUBT, DON'T OPEN!!!
Resources
If your curiosity gets the better of you, you open an intriguing attachment, and a blue-meanie virus goes to work, give QuantumStep a call at 410.349.1616, pronto. We promise not to say we told you so.
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