When to trust an e‑mail message

[This content is preliminary and subject to change.]

E‑mail is a great way to keep in touch with other people. Unfortunately, it can also open your computer to security risks, computer viruses, and potentially malicious software if you're not careful about the messages and attachments that you open. Before opening any e‑mail message or attachment, be sure that you have an up-to-date antivirus program installed. The antivirus program should be configured to scan messages as they arrive (real-time), and to scan all types of file attachments.

Note

• Before you open any e‑mail that has an attachment, make sure that your antivirus program is up to date and that it's turned on (this allows it to scan attachments).