WYSIWYG,

There are several strategies to avoid worms and viruses. I don't open files that give Norton a chance to catch them, because though I trust Norton, I figure "why put it to the test" if I can spot these things first.

If my email seems to be taking a long time to download, I'll stop it and switch over to my browser and go to the web version of the same mailbox. That tells me who is the sender and if there are attachments, but doesn't download unless I tell it to, and then, one at a time. If it is the stuff I would delete anyway, I just eliminate it there, deleting it directly from the server, and it never touches my computer. If you're having a lot of virus problems, you could set up an email account with Yahoo, which has Norton Antivirus set up to scan any files you ask it to. Again, it does it on their server, not your computer, helping you keep your machine clean.

Finally, you couldn't pay me enough to consider using Microsoft Outlook or any of it's forms. I'm stuck with it at work, but at home I use Pegasus Mail and Netscape Communicator. Neither one is set in a preview mode (and I turned off the preview mode at work). When I picked up SirCam the Communicator was set up in it's default preview mode, so Netscape isn't imune, but I learn fast.

Other emails are out there, like Eudora, that people really like and that don't seem to pick up as many viruses. I favor tucows for my downloads, but there are many others. Tucows ranks them, and has shareware, freeware, and full-bodied fee-based programs to choose from.

SRS