Using Entourage to detect .exe files

T

Trudy

I am a new convert to Mac so please excuse me if this has be discussed
before.

Yesterday I inadvertantly sent the file QTA.exe which contained the
WORM_SWEN.A virus to someone (a PC user). I have Norton Antivirus
and use Symantec Live Update every morning when I turn on the
computer so my virus definitions are up to date. I received no warning
that the message contained a virus or had a potentially problematic
..exe file. I called Apple Support who told me that Norton (for Mac)
won't detect .exe files because they're not a problem for Mac (that
doesn't seem very community spirited). He showed me how to set up a
rule in Entourage that would - in my case - delete any mail received
that contains .exe files.

Question - is it really the case that Mac antivirus software won't detect
..exe files containing viruses and if so, why doesn't Microsoft - which is
the target of all these attacks, ship Entourage with some form of
default rule to detect and move or delete the files?

Am I expecting too much?
 
N

Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.

I am a new convert to Mac so please excuse me if this has be discussed
before.

Yesterday I inadvertantly sent the file QTA.exe which contained the
WORM_SWEN.A virus to someone (a PC user). I have Norton Antivirus
and use Symantec Live Update every morning when I turn on the
computer so my virus definitions are up to date. I received no warning
that the message contained a virus or had a potentially problematic
.exe file. I called Apple Support who told me that Norton (for Mac)
won't detect .exe files because they're not a problem for Mac (that
doesn't seem very community spirited). He showed me how to set up a
rule in Entourage that would - in my case - delete any mail received
that contains .exe files.

Question - is it really the case that Mac antivirus software won't detect
.exe files containing viruses and if so, why doesn't Microsoft - which is
the target of all these attacks, ship Entourage with some form of
default rule to detect and move or delete the files?

Am I expecting too much?
Click to expand...
1. Symantec's Norton Antivirus version 9.0 (unlike other Mac versions) IS
designed and updated to detect viruses that do affect those who use virtual
Windows software on their Macs and who pass on messages to their friends
with Windows operating systems. By the way, I don't have virtual Windows and
have not used machines with Windows, but I understand that not all .exe
programs are viral.
2. I set up at the top of my Entourage rules one that tosses any email with
any of the following in the names of attachments in my Junk mailbox: .exe,
..pif, .scr, .vbs and .bat --which tend to be favorites of virus authors.
3. I checked under the Entourage mail menubar's Tools/Junk Mail Filter to
mark Junk mail as read. I scan the Junk folder contents out of curiosity as
well as to make sure I don't have any legitimate incoming mail tucked in
there. The real junk, including that containing suspect attachments, is
then trashed.
4. I avoid forwarding most email. Instead, I do a command-c copy of text
and turn on a shareware program that gets rid of any email artifacts you
don't wish to pass on, such as forwarding marks, carriage returns, etc.
There are several such inexpensive programs. I then copy and paste the
cleaned-up text into my own message. My favorite shareware program over the
years is textSOAP, which I found at versiontracker.com.
5. I wished that I learned before my email address was harvested by robotic
devices favored by spamsters and virus disseminators to only post to
newsgroups from an Entourage Account I created which inserts extra words or
characters into the domain part of one's email address to prevent delivery.
6. Just a thought, but so much virus-bearing forged "Microsoft" email has
flooded the mail in the last few days that anything currently with a return
address from the real Microsoft might be suspect. Sadly, that's probably
one of the intents of the people intentionally disseminating the flood of
virus mail.
 
T

Trudy

Thanks, Norman. This is very helpful. Looks like I need the Norton
Upgrade. Thanks also for all the file extensions! Can you say more
about creating an Entourage Account that inserts extra words or
characters into the domain part of one's email address to prevent
delivery? Trudy
 
N

Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.

Thanks, Norman. This is very helpful. Looks like I need the Norton
Upgrade. Thanks also for all the file extensions! Can you say more
about creating an Entourage Account that inserts extra words or
characters into the domain part of one's email address to prevent
delivery? Trudy
Click to expand...

I got valuable advice from this newsgroup and the MVP website, if I recall,
and then modified it and captured it into an Entourage Note:

This is only for use with newsgroups: NoSpam return address such as
[email protected] will be rejected by most internet
services other than newsgroups.

Go to Tools -> Accounts, click New, and choose POP, or if you see the
Account Setup Assistant, choose "Configure Account Manually", and then
choose POP. Enter a name like "Spam Free Account" or something else
descriptive. Fill in your name and any address, real or fake, that you want
to direct junk to. The only other field you need to fill in is SMTP server,
which should be the same as your real account. Then click OK.

Now, in the Accounts window, click the News tab, and open the news server.
Under "E-mail account", change from your default account to the Spam Free
Account, and then click OK. Repeat for each news server.

To enable it to work without error statements in sending and receiving other
mail:

Go to Tools -> Accounts, click the "Mail" tab, and open your spam-free
address. Uncheck the option to "Include this account in my 'Send & Receive
All' schedule", and click OK.
 
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