Valdosta City Schools

Technology Department


Computer Viruses and Email

Need an explanation of how viruses work? PCWORLD magazine has an excellent article at: http://www.pcworld.com/features/article/0,aid,31002,00.asp

There are some simple guidelines that need to be followed in order to prevent being infected by email type viruses. While these guidelines may not stop them all, they will certainly keep the obvious ones out.

  1. You should compose your email messages much the same way you would a letter. You should always address your recipient (Dear John,) and close your message with a "signature" (Sincerely, George). As you put this into practice your email messages will be unique and no one will mistake your messages as being a virus message.

  2. The large majority of email messages carrying viruses all have the same characteristics. They have a very generic message and/or subject along with some type of attachment. The verbage and titles are usually something very catchy to get the best of your curiosity. DO NOT OPEN the attachment and delete these messages immediately.

  3. Most email viruses come from someone you know. The viruses purposefully grab your email address book and send out messages to your contacts. What better way to spread the virus than by using your list of contacts. Also, the familiarity will cause novice computer users to open the message with no regard to security. Again, if your contacts have been greeting you and "signing" their email messages...and now all of a sudden you get a message with an attachment with no greeting or signature...guess what? That's right, most likely they have sent you a virus.

  4. If you send an attachment with an email message, you should include a short description of the attachment in the message body. That way the user will know you are intending to send an attachment. Otherwise, this message should be treated as a virus.

  5. Tell your contacts you expect a greeting and signature on all correspondence. Otherwise, tell them you will disregard any email as possibly virus laden.

  6. Some virus programs come disguised with legitimate looking attachments. However, if you see .exe or .bat in the attachment name, be aware this attachment will execute some type of program. Very rarely will you ever recieve a legitimate attachment with these suffixes. You will be expecting it and know exactly who it will come from. As a general rule, delete messages with these attachments and notify the Technology Department.

  7. Keep your Anti-Virus program up to date. Check for the latest version and latest definition files. Definition files are updated weekly. The vendor usually releases a program update every six months. Most schools have distributed printed instructions explaining how to update the program and definition files. If not, please contact your technology specialist.

  8. If you open a virus, your email account will be suspended until your computer can be disinfected. You may also lose all files on your computer if the virus becomes embedded.
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