Is this safe?

I receive and send email via Outlook Express. I only open email that I receive from individuals I know and trust. However, there are times that I receive email from individuals involved in groups that I belong to. Sometimes I do not recognize these emails but suspicion they are legitimate. If I have any doubts I have taken to reviewing the email properties to see if I recognize the individual. My virus checker is configured to check email. Is this a safe practice or am I fooling myself. As always any replies will be appreciated and I thank you in advance.

 

Yes it is safe practice.

 

I have been using Mailwasher from Firetrust http://www.mailwasher.net/index.php for about 10 years, and have never had an unwanted e-mail get past me. Check out the web site for an explanation.

 

I think it is always wise to analyze all email even those from legitimate sources. There have been many times when other sender's systems are infected and they send an infected email to you unknowingly.

 

Yep. Many email worms send the malware (or the links to the exploit sites) with the address of the person who got infected (or somebody in his contact list). Trusting all the emails where the sender's address is known is NOT enough.