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Here are some answers to questions about e-mail anti-virus protection.
Virus protection
Why is an e-mail antivirus solution important?
Generally, not everyone routinely updates the virus scanner on their computer. New viruses are found every
day. If your virus-scanner is even a month old, it might not find a new virus that found its way through your e-mail into
your computer.
By scanning for viruses at the e-mail server, you don't have to be concerned about keeping your virus
scanner always updated. However, you really should keep your anti-virus updated at least monthly!
What happens to e-mail that has a virus?
Whoever sent you the virus is notified of what happened. This allows them to correct the
problem, scan their own computer for viruses, and send you a new e-mail that hopefully is not still infected with a
virus. The e-mail is never sent to you unless it is clean of viruses.
I sent someone an e-mail, and I get back a message saying I have a virus!
If you use Nebularis as your outgoing SMTP mail server, and if your computer has a virus
that is sent with your e-mail, Nebularis' virus-scanner will stop it from reaching its destination, and notify you about it.
At this point, since you already have a virus on your computer, you should install the latest anti-virus and clean infected
files, or use Trend's free Housecall Antivirus from your web-browser.
What virus scanners do you use?
We use a combination of available virus scanners, and our own database of virus patterns.
Using several virus scanners ensures that at least one of the scanners will identify
a virus. Some virus scanners get updated more often than others, and other virus scanners might know about more viruses.
What computers are protected by the virus scanners?
The following platforms are currently being protected from e-mail viruses:
- Windows
- Microsoft Word/Excel documents (Windows & Macintosh)
- DOS
- Palm OS
- Java
- VB & Javascript
- UNIX/Linux
A friend sent me an e-mail that was blocked, but it didn't have a virus!
Some e-mail attachments are blocked permanently. This has to be done, because some filetypes are
hazardous to Windows. These include:
- readme.exe,admin.dll,readme.eml - common form of the Nimda virus
- .btm,pif,cmd - a batch file can contain dangerous commands
- .lnk - can link to dangerous website or other files
- .vbs,vbe - Visual Basic script can contain trojans or worms
- .reg - can alter registry settings and harm Windows
- .shs - Windows shell-scrap can contain any kind of dangerous data
- .js,jse - javascript files can contain hazardous commands
- .msi,msc - Microsoft Installer file, could deploy trojans
- .hta,chm - HTML application, can contain virus executable
- .wsh - Windows Scripting Host
How long does it take to scan each e-mail?
It takes less than a second to scan even large e-mail attachments.
Are all viruses guaranteed to be stopped?
No. Although it's never happened (yet) because of early-warning systems put in-place by the antivirus
community, it's always possible a new virus can slip through virus scanners. We've gone through a lot of trouble to
prevent something like this from happening, but that doesn't mean it can't happen!
Everyone should always keep backups of their important data, and always keep a
virus-scanner
on-hand!
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