Viruses, worms, trojans, and other forms of malware can make their way into a computer in many ways. It can be through a storage device like another hard disk, a floppy disk, or a USB flash drive. The Internet is also a common source such as when you download an infected file, or browse a malicious website that automatically installs malware.

These malware can also spread through email through email attachments. Sadly, not everyone is aware of this because it is often overlooked. If you remember back in the late 90s up to the early 2000s, viruses or worms spread worldwide, compromising millions of computers. Such viruses spread easily because people at that point in time were not aware that malware can also be delivered through email.

Email Malware - How It Is Harmful

Viruses, worms, and trojans can be sent through email through attachments. Once opened, they can do things like:

• Install keyloggers to monitor the things you do on your computer. (Tips on how to remove a keylogger)
• Remotely control your computer through a backdoor.
• Disable firewall, antivirus, and other security software.
• Steal your personal information such as bank accounts, credit card numbers and user names and passwords.
• Make your computer a drone or a part of a botnet to spam or send malware to other computers.
• Delete or corrupt files, or format hard drives.

These are just some of the things that malware can do to your computer. Virtually, anything can be done to your computer depending on how the cyber-criminal has programmed the malware. Due to this threat, it is very important that you keep yourself protected from threats that may come through email.

Email Scanners - How They Protect You

Email scanners are basically antivirus software that monitor incoming and outgoing emails to check for viruses, trojans, and other malicious software.

If you use web-based email, most popular services come with email scanning. Services like Yahoo! Mail and Google’s Gmail, have their own built-in email scanning engine that automatically scans attachments for viruses before you can download or send the file.

If you use mail clients like Outlook, Eudora, or Thunderbird, you will need an email scanner. Email clients get your email by connecting directly to the email server and then, downloading it into your computer. If you have an email scanner and a virus is sent to you, you will may open that particular attachment and infect your computer.

Email scanners intercept such emails and prevent you from accidentally opening such harmful email messages. Everytime you download email messages or even send one, email scanners check those messages for malware. If it does find one, it often alerts you of it, and in most cases, prevents you from accessing the message.

The Importance of Email Scanners

You may think that email scanners are not necessary because you can simply ignore email messages coming from unknown senders. That is not true, because emails can also be “spoofed” or faked.

A sender can make it appear that your bank or your office have sent you an email with an attachment. Unless you are an expert in examining email headers, it is difficult to say whether a message is authentic or spoofed. The “From:” field of an email can be made into anything like georgebush@usa.gov, or just about any email address.

Though email scanners will not help you identify fake from authentic emails, these will eliminate the risk of your computer getting infected with malware.

Today, most antivirus already come with built-in email scanners. Products like AVG Antivirus (free), Norton Internet Security, and NOD32 Antivirus are just some of the well-known antivirus software that have email scanning built-in.

Choosing Email Scanner Software

Since the majority of antivirus software already come with email scanners, you will simply have to make sure that:

• Your email client is supported. If the email scanner software is not compatible with your email client, it will not be able to scan incoming and outgoing emails. It is as good as having no email scanner.
• Your computer must at least meet the minimum system requirements. Security software use system resources. If your computer is not fast and powerful enough for it to handle, it may not work properly. If it does, your system may hang or be unresponsive. (Learn how to fix a slow computer)

Keeping your email scanner updated is also a must. Since the majority of security software automatically update themselves, you just have to make sure that the scanner has access to the Internet. If ever you use a firewall, you must allow the email scanner to connect to the Internet to download the updates.

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