E mail

[DuzyEverwork]

Two questions actually, firstly can you get a virus from an e-mail which appears in the inbox with an attachment if you open the mail but not the attachment, and secondly is there any way of telling the country of origin for an e-mail, I assume the answer to the second question is no as I live in Spain and have a co.uk e-mail addie. Please bear in mind I am a computer muppet over 50 when you answer these questions and tailor your replies accordingly :0). Thank you, you luvverly people!

[Elle]

In answer to question 1, I think it's only a problem if you open the infected attachment. Just delete the email and make sure you delete it again from the the trash folder.If anyone else knows any different, please correct me.

[PaulB]

Hi Trudi Hi Elle
That is correct what Elle says :O)

[Dave Potts]

I may be wrong but I've heard that some emails can actually contain virii embedded within the text of the emails themselves, so you would be best deleting the messages WITHOUT opening them, and possibly turning off your preview pane. P'raps someone more knowledgable than I can confirm this?

[BadBob]

It all depends on the definition of virus. Its true that code can be embedded in the text of an e-mail via HTML but the implications of this are limited as HTML cannot access parts of your computer the way an executable program can. Generally the sort of things that can be done with HTML is sending a message to the sender to say that you have read the e-mail therefore confirming the address is valid. This is usefull as what some companies do is send out e-mails to randomly generated names. If they get a response they can then target that address with more spam. So as for point one yes you are correct opening an e-mail will not install the virus opening the attachment will. But in general don't open e-mails that you don't recognise the name or title. When you e-mail people either make sure its easy to identify from the e-mail address or give an appropriate title. As for the second point you can view the e-mail headers and this will tell you which servers the e-mail has been through look at the first one in terms of time and this will give you the persons ISP server and from there you should be able to find out which country it came from.

[robber1]

Elle is always right

[Elle]

You'll make me blush, Robber.

[archbishop]

Hope your'e not talking about my e-mails Trudi.