Protecting yourself from attachment viruses

Hi,
One way to protect yourself from attatchment viruses and worms without
having your machine slowed down by anti virus software is to prevent
Outlook.Internet explorer from running scripts. You can set up Internet
explorer to ask you before it runs anything from a web site or attached to
an Email by following these instructions.

In Internet Explorer, select Internet Options from the Tools menu. Then
select the Security tab. Click on the Custom Level button. In the list make
sure the following items are selected:

ActiveX controls and plug-ins
Download signed ActiveX controls:
Prompt

Download unsigned ActiveX controls:
Prompt

Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe:
Prompt

Run ActiveX controls and plugins:
Prompt

Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting
Prompt

Java
Java permissions
High safety

Miscallaneous
Installation of desktop items
Disable

Launching programs and files in an IFRAME
Prompt

Scripting
Allow paste operations via script
Prompt

There are lots of other settings but you can leave them alone.

The only down side is that IE will prompt you before running any scripts or
plugins (such as Acrobat and Macromedia Flash). This can get tedious if you
are surfing a site that uses plugins a lot. On the other hand if, like me,
you use a modem it can save time by stopping those annoying Macromedia Flash
intros that take ages to download.

If you recieve an attachment virus Outlook will ask you if you want to run
it. Just answer no and then delete the Email.

This setup has so far protected me from all Email virus attacks, including
the Kak worm and about 10 copies of the Badtrans worm.

Les