Identify Your E-mails
 

With so many viruses floating around, we are constantly being reminded by our IT people not to open any e-mails where we don't recognize the sender.

I get a lot of e-mails from FlyerTalkers and I always open them if I am sure they are actually from FlyerTalkers. I get a lot of e-mail that I delete unread because I am not certain of the sender. When we do send e-mails to other FlyerTalkers who are not familiar with our e-mail addresses, we should probably all be careful to clearly indicate that our e-mail is from another FlyerTalk member.

Just a thought.

P.S., If you have e-mailed me and not received an answer, this may explain it. Of course, I have also had a recent computer crash and total loss of all informations. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Punqi... this is a good suggestion. I usually put FT as the 1st two letters in my Subject if it is with someone who I've never corresponded with in the past!

hhmmmmmm - everybody around me, here at home, thinks that FT is exactly the virus I caught ...

Rudi, it must be highly contagious here in ZRH - I've got it too!! I'm afraid the only cure is flying... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

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airOli, the Swiss Air Line. ;)

Just knowing who sent you the mail might not be enough. Some of these email viruses will send copies of themselves to everyone in your address book. If some Flyertalk friend of yours is a victim, the virus might send of copy of itself to you, totally unbeknownst to your friend. This message comes from your friend’s computer with his email address as the sender. It’s entirely possible to get infected email from a friend who has no malicious intent. In fact, that’s why email viruses spread so quickly. They get sent (unknowingly) by trusted friends who are victims of the virus.

I've never heard of problems OPENING an email, it's opening attatchments to an email that pose a threat. If you make sure all the recent patches are installed and you have a good virus package there is nothing to be worried about.

People get so much mail, it can be hard to sort through so I try to put "From eastwest on Flyertalk" in the subject line. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

ScottC - what about the viruses w/ macros which autolaunch the attachment when the email is opened or viewed thru preview pane in Outlook ( a real no-no ).. The Klez virus was an example of this. Granted, my Norton Antivirus intercepted it, and quarantined the infected attachment, but others weren't so lucky.. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Another boring reminder to keep those definitions updated!!

And Punki - other are correct in that most of these ARE going to be from people you know - they just didn't intend to send them to you!

[This message has been edited by svpii (edited 05-03-2002).]

Or to use Eudora.

One other way is to make the "subject" line specific enough so that it clearly isn't generated by a virus. If I'm sending an e-mail to someone out of the blue (where he or she might think that the message contains a virus), I make the subject line something like "Bob, here's the Smithco data you wanted," on the theory that a virus won't know that "[email protected]" is named "Bob" and won't know that I have a reason to write him about Smithco.

Hear, hear for Eudora and a regularly updated copy of Norton or McAfee.

With all the new friends and contacts we make on FT, scanning subject lines is definitely harder. I too like the idea of providing something about a handle and a specific topic in the subject.

Also if you get something you are not sure you should open, and if you have a shell account, just be patient for the few minutes it takes to log in to your shell account via Telnet and have a look that way at the message body. If you do not need it or want it, delete at that level and all your problems are averted.

Mike

[This message has been edited by mjm (edited 05-03-2002).]

Another thing that helps is using a Mac. This has nothing to do with its being inherently more secure than Windows (though its latest OS incarnation, Unix-based System X, probably is) and everything to do with its smaller market share making it a less attractive target for virus writers.

It would take a whole lot more than a virus to ever get me to touch a mac, Thank the heavens we switched to all windows company years ago

One suggestion and on question:
Please use a secure email-client.
Do you answer phone calls, when the caller suppresses his caller-id ?

Friends don't let friends do M$ft.
Use PC-Pine http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

What a week for virus hell. I'm getting five to ten new virus messages a day on my work server (fortunately all caught by the virus scan and disabled before they land in my mailbox).

I'm on the American Hospital Association's daily news list serve and it seems that someone hacked their distribution list. The sad thing is that while some of them are obvious virus messages given the sender e-mail and subject line, some have subject lines and sender e-mails that I *would* click if they weren't disabled.

Just another case for having good (and continually updated) virus software!

And whats wrong with Microsoft software? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

There are some viruses as SVPII pointed out that can execute upon opening a mail but most still sit as an embeeded part of an attachment. If you are using Outlook, by default it will warn you before opening any attachment that could possibly contain a virus.

Good suggestion though, put FT or the likes in the subject field, most of the people that send mails to me do.

Thanks,
Richard

What is wrong with MS software, just simply that it is not designed secure, that is mostly all.

I am surprised many still use Eudora. Is that widespread?

Glen,

For my part I can say it is more a case of being more familiar with it than anything else. When I had to switch over to a Windows machine (at the office) a few years ago, I tried to use Outlook but it didn't feel right. Probably has argueably great merits, but just didn't synch with me. I prefer dedicated mail software over a "swiss army knife" approach like I see with Outlook. The other nice things that I cite as reasons for staying with Eudora are the filters, and the ability to manage things here at the office as I do on my G4 at home. I prefer other software for scheduling and contact management so this way I use all of Eudora and all of the other specific programs for those other uses, rather than part of Outlook etc. As a long time Mac user I suppose there is an ingrained dislike of all that MS produces. Obviously a silly prejudice to maintain, and although I admit office is a great product, it liely will never be the case that I go for Outlook or Explorer. I prefer Netscape as next step from Mosaic. Hmmm... widespread? I too would love to know if many longtime Windows fans have moved to Eudora as a substitute for the MS products that provide similar functions.

Mike

This is a very timely thread for me. My Netscape Mail has become increasingly unstable. Today, it completely crashed and will not open my inbox. I was able to recover the contents in text-format using WordPad. I really like Netscape, having used it as my mail client and web browser for the last six years. I guess it's time to move on. I'm browsing now on Internet Explorer and am debating what to use for an e-mail client. I'm also reevaluating my ISP.

I started with Eudora Light when I first had a computer then "graduated" to a version of Eudora pro, and then bought a later version of that. I really liked it, but gathered the rest of the universe was using Outlook ,so drifted to that camp. Have the others still loaded and are handy as back up and am pleased to see I was not the LAST person to convert across. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

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~ Glen ~

Try Pegasus Mail

Have been using it for seven years and am 98% satisfied with its features, capabilities, and resistance to viruses.