How do we stop those viruses, spammers and Trojans from intruding in our e-mail? Bad as all that junk mail but worse. One cannot avoid them completely but there are some ways to reduce them by adjusting some Outlook Express settings.
Do you know if you have messages showing in the preview pane, this can trigger off a virus. To stop them from appearing in the preview pane this is what you need to do. First start Outlook Express. Click on Tools, then on Options, and then select the Read tab. Turn off the option to automatically download a message when viewing in Preview Pane. If you want to turn the preview pane off entirely just click on “view” then “layout”, Once there in the “Preview Pane” disable “Show Preview Pane”.
For maximum safety, all messages should be viewed in Plain Text mode. This setting is also controlled via the option in the Read tab.
Spammers use HTML and pictures to work out whether an e-mail address is ‘live’, and if their message has been opened. Users of Windows-XP SP2 can stop such snooping by the spammers. Click on Tools, then on Options, and then select the Security tab. Turn on the option to Block images and other external content in HTML e-mail.
One thing you should never do is open attachments in e-mail where you do not know where they came from.
The salient things you should follow are:
Set Outlook Express to view all messages as plain text (as per above).
Make sure Outlook Express is set to use Restricted Zone (as per above).
Don’t open spam. Delete it without opening.
Do not click on links in spam - EVER.
Do not try to unsubscribe from spam.
Beware of phishing.
Above all watch yourself and make sure you have virus software that checks e-mail as it arrives. You can get one here that I use and it’s free.