Unsolicited e-mails and Virus protection
When you exchange e-mails with others then sooner or later you are going to receive unsolicited e-mails and e-mails containing a virus. This is the unfortunate side of e-mail messages, but there are some things you can do to protect yourself from the consequences of these.

Unsolicited e-mails
If you do receive unsolicited email, often referred to as Spam, then you could set up a filter on your email program to send them to a junk folder. On MS Outlook Express you go to Tools | Message Rules | Mail to set up filters.
   You can get further advice from web sites such as http://spam.abuse.net/.

Virus protection
You are strongly advised to run up to date virus protection software on your computer - particularly to check your incoming e-mails. If you do not run virus protection software on your e-mails it is a bit like having unprotected sex with strangers, sooner or later you are going to catch something nasty. A malicious virus will, at worst, destroy the files on your computer. At best the virus will try to send e-mails to all the addresses it can find stored in files on your computer and so spread it to others.
   Major brands of virus-checking software allow you to download updates at regular intervals. We would recommend you do this on a weekly basis as new viruses are being released all the time.
   You can find out more about virus protection at Symantec http://www.symantec.com.

Virus hoaxes
Virus hoaxes are official sounding messages warning you of a new virus. For example a hoax alert warns everyone to look out for e-mails with an attachment with a particular name. According to the hoax, if you click on the attachment, your computer will be infected with a dangerous computer virus.
   The virus hoax usually claims antivirus firms "are not capable of destroying it" and it urges you to "make a copy of this e-mail to all your friends." The idea behind this is to spread hysteria and clog up the system with lots of useless messages.
   You can find out about virus hoaxes at Virus Myths http://vmyths.com/index.cfm