Do Not Allow Strangers To Come Into Your Email-Box!

Written by: John Delavera

I bet you're using either Outlook (Express or Pro) or
Eudora as your email client.

If you're using either of these products, you're in trouble
and you don't even know it. If you have not yet installed
an Anti-Virus software on your PC, then you're in big
trouble and you also risk the health of your friends'
computers.

The reason: your PC is an open email-door and worms and
viruses like open email-doors.

Both worms and viruses are small pieces of code that run on
your computer when they visit it through your email client.

Viruses destroy files and sometimes lock up your computer
in a way where you cannot use your computer at all, while
worms like to replicate themselves and be auto-sent to
your friends as attachments with various titles.

Example:

Say your email is john@john.com and 3 friends of yours have
sent you an email through these email addresses:
alex@alex.com, mary@mary.com, and jack@jack.com  

Here are some variations of the worm's activity:

It can create an infected email message from YOUR address
and automatically send itself (by using some functions of
your PC) to alex@alex.com, mary@mary.com, and jack@jack.com
with a subject the worm creates, like "Hi", "something for
you," and in general, subjects that create anticipation for
the receiver so that the receiver is more likely to open
them. If your poor friends open that email message or open
the attachment within the email, they'll start having
problems too. The worm will get the email addresses from
their Address Books and will repeat the same procedure. The
worm can also start sending email messages by creating an
email with your friends' names in the From: field and put
any other email address they find in your email client in
the To: field. It's like a chain reaction.

So, if my email address is in your Address Book and your
email client is infected by a worm, people from all over
the world can get infected email messages with my email
address in the From: field. 

Even if you only use Outlook or Eudora, you still have your
computer's door open to viruses and worms because you must
use other applications to filter your messages before
downloading them onto your PC. Even if you use an
anti-virus program, you are at risk because a new virus or
worm is not detected immediately by the companies that
create the filter, the 'medicine.'

What you must do is run a small program that allows you to
check your email messages while they are still residing on
your server BEFORE you download them onto your computer.
There are many programs for this purpose, but I'll suggest
2 of them to you:

1. Pop3Washer: this software is included as part of the
Free Software Forever offer at    
http://url4profit.com/to.cgi?id=admin&pid=79
It's also available for non-FSF members at this link:   
http://216.71.107.147/killworm.htm Sign up there to have
the download link sent to you. They will only use your
email address to send you updates to the software. In
fact, Mr. Clayton has informed me that an update is coming
very soon and it's FREE for those people on the list, so
now would be a very good time to sign up if you're
interested in Pop3Washer.

2. The second one is the one I use and I suggest you use it
too: PalMail - you can find it at 
http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/palmail.html. I like
this one very much because I can preview the subjects of
ALL messages AND ALSO read a part of the messages without
the need to download them onto my computer.

Both programs allow you to delete unwanted email messages.
Only when you are 100% sure of the quality of the remaining
email messages, only then should you download them onto
your PC.

Alternatively, you can use a web-based email account from
Yahoo.com or from Hotmail.com and NEVER open the
attachments.

In all cases, like what happens in Life, you must not trust
strangers. Remember these rules:

- Don't open messages from people you don't know,
especially messages that carry attachments, unless you have
previewed those messages by using an application like the
aforementioned programs, and you're 100% certain about the
identity of the sender AND that the message was not
automatically sent by a worm-infected computer.
By using PalMail, you'll be able to read the first lines of
the messages so you'll know the validity of their content.
Modern worms can even come in email messages without any
attachments, so your PC could be infected by just
downloading these types of email messages.

- Don't open attachments if you never expected/waited for
an attachment to be sent to you; that is: be sure you know
what the attachment is about.

- Don't trust subjects like 'hi', 'Hi', 'Hello', 'thank
you', 'Surprise' and variations of them with 'Re:' in the
start of the Subject like 'Re: Thank you.' Delete those
messages. Again, by using a program like PalMail, you'll be
able to read the first lines of the message so you can see
what the message is about.

Finally, always update your anti-virus software with the
latest virus definitions.

By the time I am writing these lines, Neil Shearing created
"SpamBlitzer", an amazing way to control your email through
your server. Take a look at
http://url4profit.com/to.cgi?id=admin&pid=127

Happy Safe Marketing!
John Delavera     
http://eZine4Profit.com
eZine For Profit: the eZine that Educates & Pays YOU!

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