Protecting Your PC
Email Essentials > Attachments
Email attachments are useful – containing important documents or personal photographs. But more and more criminals are using attachments to hide dangerous viruses, especially in 'joke' or 'chain' emails!
Some email attachments are very dangerous. An attachment could be a document or a photo from a friend but it could also be used to steal your identity, infect your computer or destroy it all together.
- Here's what you can do to protect yourself:
- Use antivirus software and keep it updated.
- If you are unsure about an attachment, delete the email.
- Don't open the attachment if
- you don't recognise the sender,
- if you're not expecting it
- or if the subject box is unclear.
Now you know how to check your emails, but do you know who's checking up on you? Find out more in Spyware.
You can use this to get print outs of the Useful Tools content. 
Hacker: A person who breaks into a computer system over the internet.
Spammers: People who send unsolicited email over the internet.
Email: Messages sent through a computer to specific groups or individuals.
Spam: Junk email which is sent to a large number of users to promote products or services.
Software: Systems software such as Windows operates the computer itself. Applications software such as word processing programmes allow you to work on the computer.
Internet Service Providers: A company that sells direct access to the internet e.g Microsoft; Yahoo; AOL.
Download: Transferring or copying files from one computer to another.
Virus: A program that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge.
Mailing Lists: An email list which is made up of users who share a particular area of interest. Mailing lists can be either publicly or privately maintained and can be monitored or unmonitored.
Instant Message: This application notifies a user when a friend is on line. They communicate by exchanging text messages.
Filter: Software programs which can classify content on the internet or block access to content.
Anti Virus: Software that spots and removes computer viruses.
Links, tips and more advice on internet security.