Q: Is it possible to eliminate the possibility that opening an email will result in a virus on my computer?
A: If you are talking about absolutes, no. However, you can dramatically reduce the chances of compromise when opening email:
- Use an email provider that pre-scans your mail for malicious content. This is one reason I favor Google. All incoming email is scanned by over a dozen of the leading anti-malware software before it gets to you.
- Install a quality anti-malware software, and keep it updated daily. I'm fond of Bitdefender GravityZone. It will automatically update hourly, and is consistently among the top 3 products in its category.
- Enable application whitelisting. With this active, only applications you have approved can launch/execute/open. Since malware isn't on your list, it simply cannot launch and cause problems.
Principal Owner at Third Transition Media
5 年Just don't open attachments.
Assistant Dean of Online Learning and Instructional Technology at The George Washington University, SON
5 年I’ll chime in two cents. Probably the two most popular ways of opening emails on a PC or Mac are through a web browser or mail client. To reduce the risk of potential infection via web browser you’d want to use Firefox or Chrome and look into certain addons like NoScript and AdblockPlus, my two personal favorites. Maybe a cliche, but probably the most effective way is to get a good antivirus Subscription if you’re using mail based software client on a PC ie. Outlook or Mail on Mac. I know that AVG and similar products have come far in terms of addons and protection for e-mail. Also it may be worth to note, while Macs are not impervious to malware, worms and viruses, they are usually not as frequent target as PCs so the potential of infection with a virus is more unlikely or incompatible rendering the infection useless or non executable. Hope this helps.
Sr. Exchange Administrator at Edgewater Federal Solutions
5 年I"m hesitant to use words like never and always, but only allowing text formatted (not HTML) formatted messages will eliminate the possibility of embedded code.? It will also strip hyper links to possible phishing sites.? Attachments are a different class....