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PeoplePC Virus Blocker Viruses love to spread through infected email messages. But Virus Blocker scans your
incoming email for viruses, keeping them out of your Inbox. Virus Blocker is automatically on, so you're already getting this protection.
Though we don't recommend it, you can turn Virus Blocker off: Click the Preferences link, then choose Virus Blocker and click Turn OFF Virus Blocker.
- Using Virus Blocker with your
Email Program
- How Virus Blocker Handles Infected
Email Messages
- Emergency Mode
- Using Virus Blocker with Your
Email Settings
- What are "Viruses"?
Using Virus Blocker
with Your Email Program Virus Blocker does not affect the way your email program
works. If you are using PeoplePC Web Mail, you will
see an icon next to messages where a virus was found:
A virus was found in this message and successfully
cleaned.
This is a system message to let you know that a message
could not be cleaned. It has been deleted or Quarantined. How Virus Blocker
Handles Infected Messages Virus Blocker works behind the scenes scanning your
incoming email for viruses. If a message is infected,
Virus Blocker takes one of three actions: Cleans
Viruses from Attachments and Message Headers
Sometimes viruses attach themselves to email
messages that others send you. Often Virus Blocker will
be able to remove, or "clean", a virus from an infected
message and pass it on to your Inbox. A note will be
inserted at the top of your message indicating that
it was cleaned by Virus Blocker. Quarantines
Messages that Can't Be Cleaned
When you receive a legitimate message that
can't be cleaned, it's moved to a special Quarantine
folder on PeoplePC's email system. When this
happens, Virus Blocker will send you an email indicating
that a message has been quarantined (including message
details). Note: Quarantined
messages are automatically deleted three days after
they are received. When a message is quarantined, the best action is to
let the sender know that a virus was found in the message
they sent to you, and ask them to send a new, clean,
message. If you have anti-virus software installed on your computer,
you may want to download a quarantined message. You
should be very careful when reading messages that have
been quarantined, as some viruses hide in the headers
of a message, so all you have to do is open the message
to activate the virus. To download quarantined messages Sign in to My Account using the email address that
received the infected message. On the Email Maintenance page, disable Virus Blocker Check the box to move quarantined messages into your
Inbox. Automatically
Deletes Certain Messages
Some viruses "breed" by sending copies of themselves
via email. These messages are fakes; they have some
nonsense in the message body, and an attachment containing
the virus. They are tricky, because they appear to be
sent by someone you know! Virus Blocker spots these
messages right away, and deletes them before you ever
see them. Virus Blocker will send you an email indicating that
an infected message has been deleted, including message
details so you can tell who sent the message and when.
If it's somebody you know, you can let them know they've
been infected. They probably have no idea! If you get
more than one of the infected messages from the same
sender, you will still only get one notification message. Emergency Mode In the case of a massive virus outbreak Virus Blocker
will go into Emergency Mode. This helps protect your
PeoplePC connection from being slowed down or even shut
down because of all the Internet traffic caused by an
outbreak. Here's how Emergency Mode affects your PeoplePC
service: During Emergency Mode, Virus Blocker will scan all
incoming messages, regardless of your Virus Blocker
settings.
If you have Virus Blocker turned off, Emergency
Mode will only scan for the virus that is causing the
outbreak.
During Emergency Mode, Virus Blocker will delete any
messages containing the virus causing the outbreak,
but you won't receive any email from PeoplePC about
these messages.
As soon as the outbreak has been contained, Emergency
Mode will be turned off. Using Virus Blocker
With Your Email Settings PeoplePC Virus Blocker is designed to work smoothly
with the other features of your PeoplePC account. However,
there are a few things to take into account when using
Virus Blocker Email
Forwarding
If you choose to save a copy of forwarded email,
only "clean" messages will be forwarded, including messages
that had a virus removed by Virus Blocker. System messages
(including quarantine messages) will be saved but not
forwarded. If you choose to not save a copy on the server, then
only "clean" messages will be forwarded. All infected
messages, including those that would normally be
quarantined, are deleted. No system messages will
be forwarded. Vacation
Messages
When a virus is deleted or quarantined, a vacation
message will not be sent to the person who sent the
infected message. Otherwise, vacation messaging will
work as normal when Virus Blocker is turned on. spam
Controls and spaminator Uninfected Messages
spam Controls and spaminator work as usual on messages
that are clean, or that have been cleaned by Virus Blocker. Quarantined Email
Note for spaminator users: If a message is
deleted or quarantined, you will still get a message
about it from PeoplePC, no matter who sent the infected
message. Even if they are not in your Address Book and
spaminator is set to Highest Protection. Known spam
PeoplePC won't send you notification about
infected Known spam. If an infected
Known spam can be cleaned, it will
be cleaned and then put in your Known spam folder.
If it can't be cleaned, infected Known spam
will be deleted or quarantined. Multiple
Attachments
If any attachment to a message can't
be cleaned by Virus Blocker, the entire message will
be quarantined or deleted.
What are "Viruses"? "Virus" is a generic term that lumps together several
types of malicious computer programs: Worms
and Trojan Horses Trojan Horse
Trojan horses are imposters. They have a file
name that sounds like something you want, like a game
or picture, but they are really a program designed to
do something bad to your computer. Worm
A "worm" is a program that breeds, sending
itself from computer to computer usually via email.
Anybody who accidentally runs the worm file activates
it on their computer, causing the worm to send itself
to a whole new batch of computers. Some Trojan horses
are also worms! Unlike a true virus, worms and Trojan horses are not
attached to legitimate messages. The message a worm
is attached to is usually gibberish, but it will have
an enticing Subject and may have been sent by somebody
you know! Viruses
True viruses are devious little programs
that can "live" inside other programs-- programs you
use. Because viruses can masquerade as useful programs,
you can never trust a program that you receive from
someone you don't know. You may install a program and
use it, but later discover that there was a virus inside
and your computer is now infected! Scripts
Email messages today can contain entire Web
pages, complete with pictures and colors and things
that move. Usually, this makes email more interesting
and fun and useful. Unfortunately, it also means that
people can add malicious "scripts" (such as Javascript,
VBScript, or Active X) to messages, designed to annoy,
or even harm your computer. This type of malicious program
takes advantage of security holes in your web browser
or email program.
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