I received three e-mails with unknown authors, I am afraid to open them because there may be a virus or worm attached. Is there a way to open these messages and protect my computer at the same time. Again I appreciate your technical expertise and want to thank you for your help, charlie

Charlie, I use Norton Anti-Virus. Free for 30 days. After that it is about $20.00. Well worth the hassle of dealing with a virus and removing it and Registry entries ect... Works great! I have heard of freeware anti-virus programs but everytime I go to the recommended site it is no longer free. Paid the $20.00 bucks.Well worth the flustration and all one must go through after getting a virus. Good Day! Mesich

If you want to protect yourself against a lot of viruses and vulnerabilities, get a antivirus client like Norton or Trend. I know these have real-time protection so emails will be scanned before you even open them. Also have auto defintion updates which is very good to have. Also, use an email client that is not Outlook. Eudora lets you use their new version for free, just with a small little ad box on the bottom. Outlook is targeted by most virus writers and most viruses go after some vulnerability in Outlook. Most viruses are only dangerous when you execute the file, so technically you could open those emails and see what they say, just don't open the attachments. But there are some viruses that automatically release when you open the email (taking advantage of an Outlook flaw) I wouldn't recommend doing that, but you could.

Another small recommendation. Get a web mail account for the junk mail. You decide to subscribe to something, you don't want junk clogging your regular email or the chance of a virus. I use my established email for only close friends and family, it is 95%spam free. I use a few web accounts for the junk so I don't have the problem of viruses. They both scan attachments prior to receipt and I can rescan prior to opening. Plus it would not hurt to get a firewall, like Tiny it is free or zone alarm, no such thing as enough protection on the wild wild web......

Above is a link to a free and very good anti-virus program. All you have to do is register with them and download and install the program.

AVG is free as stated above Eudora free had spyware last I checked. I use www.pmail.com for free good email client. If you have outlook / outlook express follow these steps for maximum security. Tools->options->security. Change "internet security zone" from "internet zone" to "restricted sites zone" For Inoculate it, they don't offer it on their site BUT CONTINUE SUPPORT (free updates) get the install file here: http://routeme.com/downloads/ipesetup.exe and updates here: https://www2.my-etrust.com/services/ipe_support I tested it on a recent email worm and it picked it up, so they really do continue support.

emails with a) no subject b) no name of sender and also c) size mostly between 30,000 and 34,000 bytes are almost GUARANTEED to be virus-, trojan- or worm infected. This is the great thing about Spambuster. You SEE that there's this kind of mail coming in and you can mark it and delete it safely (in spambuster, do a right click and look at the headers. The last "Received From:" line might give you a clue as to who inadvertently sent you the virus/trojan/whatever.) You're right to be cautious. These days you have to be paranoic... Dane