True or False?

[dajoga]

According to PC's for Dummies you can't get a virus from an email unless it has an attachment which you open. What say the experts on FC?

[nosferatuscoffin]

[ QUOTE ]
dgauw said:
According to PC's for Dummies you can't get a virus from an email unless it has an attachment which you open. What say the experts on FC?

[/ QUOTE ]

While most viruses are spread through email attachments, some more advanced ones can be spread by an executable that resides on the mail server. This is a fairly unusual, as any admin worth is salt is going to be vigilant about virus protection on his servers, as I am.

But it does happen.

[DoctorDoom]

Another possibility is that an HTML email could fetch bad stuff from a website, but again this would be a rare event, and would rely heavily on the user having little or no security awareness.

The vast majority of computer grief is caused by the PBMC (Problem Between Monitor and Chair). A user with even basic security acumen will not be infected. An up-to-date anti-virus program, a good firewall, proper configuration for Windows, avoiding "warez" sites and pirated software, and not clicking on every email attachment or ICQ file will render a box pretty much immune to digital nasties.

One recommendation: if one's email program has the ability to turn off the "preview" panel, this is highly recommended, if for no other reason than that it will lessen the likelihood of the ankle-biters seeing porn spam in all its ugliness.

[Beowulf]

Usually it's through attachments but like Nos said, it can come from other sources.