Pc Protection

[bunty39]

is it ever harmful to open an email? I know about the dangers of clicking on attachments or links ( to my cost ) but I'm getting paranoid even about emails now. Is there any type of email I shouldn't open?
thank you

[hc4361]

What anti virus do you use at the moment? Many also scan emails.

[RATTER15]

It isnt emails that are a problem as much as the attachment they may contain, basically dont open attachments or anything with "Exe" in the file name unless you have requested to download a program.

[hc4361]

Thinking about it, an attached file is just a file. Your existing antivirus software will block it if you try to open an infected file.

[boxtops]

Reposted here http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Technology/Question1357248.html#answer-9130310

bunty - there's no need to post twice - you'll have answers on both of them now...!

[Buenchico]

I love the way that AB removes capital letters from the titles of posts. It appears that you're seeking to protect a police constable ;-)

To answer your question:
Yes, there is a risk from simply opening emails but it's not as great as that from opening attachments. If you view your emails in an email client (such as Outlook Express) you should always disable the preview pane, as that effectively opens an email before you've actively done so.

However I find little difficulty in spotting potentially dangerous emails simply from their titles (or from the name of the sender) and happily delete them unopened. (My email service also automatically quarantines any that looks dodgy and then sends me a message to tell me about it).

Simply opening an email can't directly cause an major damage to your computer but it might, for example, put some malware onto it that could then trick you into clicking on a link to something really nasty. That's why you should have the free version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware on your computer and run it every so often. (I suggest running it once per fortnight or immediately after opening any email that looks dodgy):
https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/

[hc4361]

I use GMail and that automatically scans for viruses.

[bunty39]

thank you Ratter15.
hc4361, I think it's skybot, but it's my son who fixed it up for me, I could be wrong

[boxtops]

Since BTinternet moved into its ghastly new format, much more spam finds its way into my email inbox these days, despite my continually marking it as Spam as it comes in.