Continued from page 1
That movie Wicked screensaver Your application Approved My details Details Your details Thank you
A new box will pop up that says, "search text" at
top. Enter one of phrases you want to filter out and click "add". You may enter as many phrases as you'd like, clicking "add" after each one. When you're finished, click "Ok". You'll be taken back to previous box. Click "next" at bottom.
At this point, you have two choices. You can either specify that these emails go into your
delete file to be reviewed later, or you can specify that they be permanently deleted from Outlook so that you never see them. At this point, either click in box next to "delete it", which simply moves it automatically to delete folder, or click "permanently delete", which means that you will never see email at all and won't be able to get it back.
Click "next" again and you're now at exceptions box. I can see no reason to use exceptions when dealing with Sobig viruses and others like it. There might be a temptation to make an exception for people who are in your address book or close friends. But remember, a virus will take over someone else's address book and send you emails without person ever knowing. Anyone in your address book could send you an infected email without knowing it. I recommend that you hit “next” without selecting any exceptions at this point.
In next box, program would like to know name of rule you've just created. You might want to call it "viruses #1" or something similar. Click finish after naming your rule. At this point you have another choice: you can apply rule you just created to mail already in your inbox, or you can choose to have it apply only to incoming mail from now on. Choose either "run now" or "ok".
You're finished. That wasn't SO hard, was it? You might even want to set up some more rules to help you organize your inbox or to filter out spam or unwanted email.
------------------- Some more information about attachments and viruses/worms: Email viruses and worms almost always are transmitted through attachments. Remember after Anthrax scare in US a couple of years ago when everyone was very picky about what mail they accepted and opened? Anything that looked suspicious or didn't have a return address wasn't opened. Think about attachments in same way. If you get email from someone you don't know, don't open attachment! If email doesn't say anything personal to you or use your real name, don't open attachment. You can always send an email back to that person asking them about who they are or what attachment is for if you're in doubt.
What you need to know about difference between spam and viruses: Recently online I've seen a couple of people referring to emails they get from viruses as spam. If you want to impress your friends and coworkers with your technological savvy, you need to know that spam is unwanted and unsolicited email you get for a commercial purpose. The intention of email is commercial. Someone wants you to buy something, be a part of their program or visit their website. Email you get because of viruses is technically not spam. Although it is unwanted, its intention is not to advertise or market anything, it’s simply a nuisance created by someone with too much time on his or her hands! Also keep in mind that viruses commonly get into people's address books and send out automatic emails to everyone on list. Your friends and relatives are not sending you infected email on purpose.
Heather Dickson is a Virtual Assistant and owner of Virtuassist.net, and is a member of the International Virtual Assistants Association who specializes in administrative support including writing, editing, proofreading, customer service, and data base creation.
