> Which brings me to another question. I don't open e-mails in outlook
> or anything else on my mail server. Is there any way to kick off a
> virus without actually opening it in Outlook, through web based mail,
> or actually double clicking the file?
In the "good ole days", it was nearly impossible to get a virus through E-mail.
Someone would have to send you an attachment that had a virus, and you would have to
open it.
In the "almost good ole days", it was impossible to get a virus through E-mail unless
you opened an executable file (.EXE or .COM)
Then, it was impossible to get a virus by reading an E-mail, you could only get it by
opening an attachment (.DOC, .XLS, .BAT, and others could cause problems).
Now, you can get a virus by opening any type of attachment, even a text attachment
(unless you know your computer well enough to know that Microsoft hasn't played games
with the file extentions). You CAN ALSO get a virus by READING an E-mail if you have
a flawed E-mail client (I'm only aware of Outlook spreading viruses just by reading an
E-mail). Same holds true with Outlook Express (not Outlook), WITHOUT reading the
E-mail, if you have your "Preview Pane" open.
As of today, it isn't possible to get the virus if the E-mail is just sitting on your
server. But, you have to be darned careful. And just cause a virus can't spread in a
certain way today, doesn't mean it can't be done in the future (Thanks, Microsoft!).
-Scott
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