Is it a must?

Discussion in 'polls' started by minacross, Sep 9, 2004.

?

Is using an AV with a mail scanner a must?

Poll closed Sep 16, 2004.
  1. yes

    12 vote(s)
    40.0%
  2. no

    16 vote(s)
    53.3%
  3. I don't know

    2 vote(s)
    6.7%
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  1. minacross

    minacross Registered Member

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    Is it a must to use an AV with mail scanner?
     
  2. Ronin

    Ronin Guest

    No. Unless you are a newbie or are using something insecure like Outlook Express.
     
  3. nod32_9

    nod32_9 Guest

    I don't use a full-time AV scanner. Therefore, the e-mail scanner is a must have item. If you have a properly configured firewall and use common sense when browsing the internet, then the number one point of entry for most baddies is the e-mail program.

    And always run a manual scan of new removeable media.
     
  4. Eldar

    Eldar Registered Member

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    I don't use Outlook, but a secure email client. I want all virusses & others stopped by my antivirus, so it doesn't stay dormant on my system.
    I like to keep my system clean, so for me an email scanner is a must, same as real-time protection. :)
     
  5. Rita

    Rita Infrequent Poster

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    i dont know but i dont use one(probaly a mistake) but i have an av and firewall and aol that i use has an email scanner for virus'es too
    rita
     
  6. mercurie

    mercurie A Friendly Creature

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    Maybe someone can help me out on this one. I voted "I don't know". Here's what I think. Norton AV scanned when I used Outlook Express. Later I went to Comcast email. Then used other AV and got rid of Norton (not because of Comcast email). I wanted a less resource user AV. But email scanning was way down on the list as deciding factors.

    I figure ISP is scanning email. I also hear some AV programs will not open infected attachment without at least a warning when you click on it. Treats it like any other file. Am I right about that? Nearly all my choices happen to have email scan anyway. Never really an issue. I have never been infected by email. Only one know virus in 3 years in fact. :doubt:
     
  7. GlobalForce

    GlobalForce Regular Poster

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    If your using Outlook or not, some very good tips on e-mail control and common sense here.
    I know there's more out there, but I feel this provides a sound, sensible overview.

    GF ;)
     
  8. nadirah

    nadirah Registered Member

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    3,647
    If you accidentally open an email infected with a virus, an AV would come in handy. ;)
     
  9. Ronin

    Ronin Guest

    Firstly a secure email client, will not allow you to "accidently" open an email attachment. It will popup warnings or better yet, force you to save it somewhere on the disk, and the only way to open it, would be to minimize the email client and open it from there.

    If you make a habit of opening email attachments without using your brain, you will get nailed, email scanner or not. In today's world, the latest viruses and worms spread extremely rapidly, there is a high chance that you will eventually get a new one not covered by your email scanner, aggressive heuristics or not.

    While it is true that email attachments are the primary way people get infected, it is also true ,that such malware are by far the easiest to spot.

    Suspicious file extensions like pif , bat, scr etc are a dead giveaway.
    Short emails "Hi, here is the document you requested" or similar are yet another sign.
     
  10. MikeBCda

    MikeBCda Registered Member

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    I answered yes, simply because I use avast-4 (home version) and adding email to its other resident-protection providers doesn't seem to "cost" noticeably in time or resource usage.

    Actually it's probably not even really necessary, and has never yet even gotten a proper test (other than via Eicar). My ISP uses an excellent version of VirusGuard which so far has caught anything incoming before avast even got a look at it. And my Eudora itself includes virus-related protection -- warnings if I try to open any exe, or even anything that might contain executable script or macros, like doc's. And it also warns if there's any attempt to auto-send outgoing mail to multiple addresses.

    That last one is probably becoming less and less useful these days -- if I understand correctly, it's becoming increasing "popular" among email viruses for them to use their own quick-and-dirty SMTP client, rather than going through your mailer. But the vast majority still need you to open an attachment first, and of course that's the first line of defense.
     
  11. bigc73542

    bigc73542 Retired Moderator

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    I have two av's and I don't really care if I have a mail scanner or not. neither of my av's would allow malware in an e-mail to be opened without being scanned. I do only run one on access av at at a time of course. I have never gotten a virus through an e-mail in the many years I have been on the net. Except one time that was my fault and it was not by e-mail. I have never been infected by any virus, trojans or worms.
     
  12. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    For me, yes!

    Since I use E-mail Client and don't want to lose my time and patient opening the files to see if they have virus...
     
  13. chrisretusn

    chrisretusn Registered Member

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    Philippines
    No, not a must, if you practice safe hex. That said, if others are using the family computer for example, I would consider it smart to use an email scanner. Most ISP's now scan emails these days anyway. Infected email will get stopped before it gets to you, at least that's the case with my provider. :)

    BTW, I do use a AV scanner, for my POP accounts. I also use an email notifier program, to preview messages in my accounts, and delete or take extra precautions on suspect ones. My main email program is not by microsoft and I consider it safe. On top of that I have rules established in my software firewall to deny web access to my email program.

    Chris
     
  14. meneer

    meneer Registered Member

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    The Netherlands
    It's not a must. Any decent client side AV will catch a nasty on opening. It's even the only protection against encrypted attachments.

    I do use a mailscanner with AV (clamav) and AS (spamassassin) functions on my linux gateway. Just an extra layer of defense and it saves some processor cycles on my desktop machines. Besides, since I'm running a linux desktop too, I hardly care about a virus in the mail :cool:
     
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