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Being Careful with Your Email Attachments

For people who are transacting online, emails are part of their life. Emails are preferred because of its convenience and easiness but you should know that it can be dangerous too. Emails are targeted by attackers because they can be circulated easily. Forwarding email for instance can spread the virus without difficulty. With  this, it is important that you are careful with emails and its attachments.

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There is no problem if you send emails. The problem will come if someone unknown sent something to you. You have to be careful of the attachments because there is a possibility that it involves virus. Do not worry because you can protect yourself from dangerous email attachments. Here are some steps that you can take:

Scan before opening attachments

Before you open attachments, you have to save and scan it first. If you have no time to verify the source of the email, you can open it by taking the following precautions: (1) ensure that your anti-virus is up to date, (2)  save it in your disk or computer and (3) scan it manually using your anti-virus program. If you think that the email is clean, you can open it right away.

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Security practices

You have to check your security before you open any attachments. You can for instance filter your email. Your email software has this filtering technology that can sort out spam. You also need to check the firewall of your email software.

Update software

You have to update your software so attackers cannot take advantage of identified problems. Do not worry because your operating system will notify you if there are software updates. You only need to enable it. If you are notified, you should update it right away.

Be cautious of unsolicited emails

You have to be cautious of unsolicited emails even if it came from a real person. Attackers will create an account with a convincing name and catchy subjects to make it more realistic and appealing, You have to be careful of that.

Listen to your instincts

You have to listen to your instincts. When you see an email and it feels suspicious, do not open it. For example, if there is an email with the subject “Free Anti-Virus”, it is a red flag.  Remember that anti-virus software is not sent via email.

Turn off automatic downloads

Your email programs want to make things easier for you so they offer automatic download. Do not permit this because it can spread virus. The best and safest thing to do is to turn off the option that permits automatic download.

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