Re: Caution, Virus problem out there in killieland

[Dennis W Heltzel <dheltzel at ccil_org>]

I read the killietalk emails from a Linux system also. So I'll contribute
some info here. While the actual email reader programs that run on Linux
don't run directly on Windows, you can get the virus resistance in several
ways.

1) Have an email account that saves the email on the Linux system and
gives a secure method of reading the mail. A good example of this is using
Webmail. It takes a lot of work to get a Windows virus to run via webmail.
I won't say it can't be done. But most virus writers assume you are using
MS Outlook to read the mail, and the autexecution only works correctly
when read there.

2) Login to the Linux system and read the email on that system directly.
This requires a Linux system, so it's not really answering your question.
This is what I do and it not only protects me from email viruses, but I
have it filtering SPAM as well.

3) Get and use a non-Microsoft email reader for Windows. This would
probably be your best short term solution (long term - set up your own
Linux server <VBG>). There are email readers that you can buy or get for
free. Eudora is a very well known program. I use Mozilla (like Netscape 7
but kills popup ads also), it's free and quite good compared to IE and
Outlook. I won't go so far to as to say that no virus will infect your
system if you use Mozilla or Eudora, but those "markets" are a much
smaller target for virus writers (who seem to have a dislike for Microsoft
anyway). This is a case where using a niche product instead of the
mainstream product can be a real advantage, using Outlook without any
email filtering is like walking around a shooting range with a very big
target on your back!

I really like promoting these programs, so if anyone wants/needs help,
contact me off list.

Dennis
dennis at fishroom_net

> Is it possible to use a linux or UNIX based mail reader like yours on a
> windows system?


---------------
See http://www.aka.org/AKA/subkillietalk.html to unsubscribe
Join the AKA at http://www.aka.org/AKA/Applic.htm