email virus

C

Connie

Would like to find a way to "block sender" when receiving email
containing virus. Cannot find any method with Entourage to do this.
Running OSX so another email program is not a solution... Please
help!
 
M

Mickey Stevens

You can't keep a specific sender's messages from downloading, but you have
them deleted automatically when received. Though the virus won't affect you
and they don't need to be deleted, they tend not to include any content
useful to anyone, so it shouldn't matter.

To block a sender, you need to create a rule. Go to Tools -> Rules, select
the correct tab depending on what kind of account you have, and then click
"New". Call the rule "Block Senders", and set Execute Actions to "if any
criteria are met". The rule should look like the one on the Entourage Help
Page for mail:
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/rules.html#anchor-rule5>

By the way, there are other e-mail clients for OS X (even though Entourage
is my favorite), like Eudora, Mail, Netscape, and Mailsmith, to name a few.
 
R

Robert L. Haar

Would like to find a way to "block sender" when receiving email
containing virus.
Click to expand...

Many of the current crop of viruses forge the FROM address using an address
in the address book on the infected computer, and try to hide the actual
sender. If you were to block the apparent sender, you are just punishing
someone who done nothing wrong other than have an entry in some else's
address book - and it would be rather ineffective in blocking additional
virus messages.

I recommend getting a anti-virus software that automatically quarantines
infected email and then freely apply the DELETE function.
 
J

John B.

Would like to find a way to "block sender" when receiving email
containing virus. Cannot find any method with Entourage to do this.
Running OSX so another email program is not a solution... Please
help!
Click to expand...

Hi Connie,

Many ISPs offer webmail and spam filters. Talk to your ISP! Mine offered
both of these services well before I knew they existed.

My last two ISP's used Squirrel Mail. This "web ware" works great on both as
webmail and spam filter ... and it catches lots of viruses before I ever see
them -- before they get to my computer! If your ISP doesn't have a client
side spam filter or webmail, suggest that they try Squirrel Mail.

First a word about using Entourage for handling viruses; then on to client
side spam filters.

________ Limiting the Size of Documents that Entourage Receives ________

Most viruses have large attachments. You can prevent Entourage downloading
from messages and attachments beyond a certain size. It's easy to do. And
you don't have to buy anything. In Entourage, go to:

Tools menu > Accounts > Mail Tab > Options

check "Partially receive messages over ..."

.... and enter a low number like 49 in the field. Then press OK to save the
changes.

When Entourage now encounters a message bigger than 49K (or a message with a
large attachment that exceeds 49K), it will download only the header,
flagging it with a yellow "partial page" icon indicating that the message
has not been fully downloaded. Later you can download the entire message ...
or you delete it through your Web Mail without ever downloading it to
Entourage.

During a virus frenzy, find out the size of the message, and set "Partially
receive messages" lower than that. And never open attachments.

With "Partially receive messages" turned on, Entourage not only screens out
many viruses, it blocks ALL messages with large attachments, like photos and
dumb jokes that friends and relatives forward. (I keep "Partially receive
messages" set to 85K. Before I did, I used to have to wait for a 550 MB
photo or an 8 MB MP3 to download before I could retrieve any subsequent
email -- and sometimes I needed to get my email in a hurry!)


_________ Server Side Spam Filters ____________

With a server side spam filter, many virus messages and virus attachments
never get to your computer ... not unless you go into the server's "spam
box" and intentionally move it to your "In" box

My service collects 15 to 40 spam messages a day via Squirrel Mail,
automatically routing them to my "spambox."

It's wise to check the spambox occasionally for 'false positives' (i.e. good
email that is tagged as spam). With Squirrel Mail I can mark all 'false
positives' and move them to the 'Inbox' with a single click to the "Move"
button. Then I simply delete all remaining contents of the spambox. (All
messages in the Inbox, will be downloaded the next time you press "Send and
Receive" in Entourage.)

A good spam filter will have a "white list": a list of senders whose
messages would never get tagged as spam; and a "black list": a list of
senders (known offenders) whose messages always get tagged as spam. Perhaps
my ISP hasn't licensed that feature from Squirrel Mail ... either that or
they haven't bothered to implement it. Too bad, because I have to comb
through the Squirrel Mail SpamBox looking for messages from people that I
never want blocked.

Remember, none of the contents of the server side spambox ever gets to
Entourage or my hard drive. And most viruses end up in that spambox.

Hope that helps!

John
 
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