As
every moderately adept computer user knows, you can add attachments
to emails. You can attach documents, photos, or perhaps music
to your emails and send them to any recipient you desire. The
unfortunate fact is that some computer users have decided to
design attachments that can cause a great deal of harm to your
computer. An email attachment could potentially cause your computer
to run slow, send your passwords to unknown recipients over
the internet, and corrupt or destroy completely your personal
files or your hard drive.
The
point is not to avoid opening any email attachments at all,
but to be aware of harmful file extensions, avoid opening attachments
from people you do not know, and make sure you have a good anti-virus
program installed on your computer. The are some types of viruses
and Trojan Horses that will cause your email software, such
as Outlook, to resend email messages containing harmful attachments
with your name as the sender, without your knowledge. Some of
these harmful attachments operate so quickly that your entire
computer could be infected before your anti-virus software has
time to alert you to their presence. Email attachments with
file extensions such as .jpg, .bmp, and .txt are generally safe
to open.
If
an email attachment you receive contains file extensions such
as url, .doc, or .xls, you can generally consider them safe
if you know the sender, but these extensions are capable of
causing damage to your computer, so be very careful if you are
uncertain or unfamiliar with the sender. Files containing the
extensions .exe, .vbs, and .com should be treated with extreme
caution. Executable files, Visual Basic Script, and .com extensions
have the power to do a lot of harm to your computer, and possibly
your entire network if you are in an office environment.
These
are just a sample of the possible file extensions and the damage
they may or may not cause, but you need to be certain your anti-virus
software is up to date and that you use extreme caution in opening
email attachments. Opening a single email attachment from an
unknown source could infect your entire computer.
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