Guidelines for the Healthy Use of E-mail -- Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online

Guidelines for the Healthy Use of E-mail

By Scott Bekker
08/16/1999

NTBugtraq recently included suggestions for running a healthy, virus-free e-mail program. When receiving an e-mail message containing an attachment that was not expected or from an unknown sender, do the following:

Do not touch the attachment. Don't open it, don't view it, don't save it to disk.

Contact the sender to verify they actually sent the attachment.

Ask them what it is.

If still unsure about it, contact a network administrator. Do not send them a copy of the attachment unless they request one.

If all else fails, send a message to [email protected] describing the message. Copies of the attachment can be sent to this address. After investigating the message, SecurityAdivce.com will reply with whatever information is available.

When sending someone an e-mail message with an attachment, do the following:

Before sending the message with the attachment, send the recipient a message telling them to expect an attachment.

Avoid sending messages with attachments that contain executable code, such as Word documents with macros. Instead of sending them a DOC file, send them a RTF version.