Hi Everyone,
Below is a copy of an email warning I recieved from my ISP, Earthlink. It is about a quarantined email that arrived in my email inbox. I use web based email, the safest way to use email, and is the first such warning I have received this year.
Of course, I know better than to open it and it is from no one I know. I am posting this as information about such things and for the information contained in the warning message. The important information is in bold. Contrary to some of the advice below, I do not recommend ever opening infected email of any type even with updated av programs.
EARTHLINK VIRUS BLOCKER MESSAGE STATUS
MESSAGE QUARANTINED
Virus Detected: Trojan.Agent-56086
Message Details:
From: “Daisy Messer”
To: charleyo
Subject: Account information
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:57:09 -0600
This email included an attachment which EarthLink identified
as containing a virus known as Trojan.Agent-56086.
For your protection, EarthLink Virus Blocker has quarantined the
message because the virus it contains cannot be removed or disabled.
When a message is quarantined, you should 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.
There may be circumstances where you want to download a quarantined
message. You should only do so if you have up-to-date antivirus
software installed on your computer. Please exercise caution when
reading a quarantined message, as it is possible the original message
had malicious intent. Some viruses hide in email headers and are
activated when infected emails are opened. EarthLink recommends you
do not reply to the email or click any links contained in the email.
To learn how to access this message, please see below:
When you receive a legitimate message that can’t be cleaned, it’s
moved to a special Quarantine folder on EarthLink’s email system.
When this happens, Virus Blocker will send you an email indicating
that a message has been quarantined (including message details).
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 antivirus 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.
Please note that quarantined messages are automatically deleted
three days after they are received.
Sincerely,
EarthLink Support
This is an Administrative Message from EarthLink. It is not spam.
From time to time, EarthLink will send you such messages in order
to communicate important information about your subscription.