OT: What Is A Good Secure Email Program

Atrocities · #1 October 6th, 2004, 06:22 PM

I am at wits end with Outlook Express. Today an email was received with three W32.Netsky.P@mm!enc attacks attached. Nortan detected them all, but was only able to kill one, quarenteen one, and do nothing with the Last.

I have my security settings set on high yet Outlook OPENED this file thus infecting my system. (Not confirmed yet, but running AV just in case.

What other email programs are out that I can use that are far more stable and resist dubius emails?

Alneyan · #2 October 6th, 2004, 06:25 PM

Would using an IMAP-based server help in this case? (I am not sure if a malicious mail can launch itself through IMAP, that is, without downloading anything but the mail header)

It would be a change in the mail server however, and not in your software, and I cannot swear it helps (I have yet to receive any kind of virus on my IMAP mail).

Arkcon · #3 October 6th, 2004, 06:40 PM

I had good results using the Email function of the complete Mozilla package on my sister's laptop. She doesn't even notice that she's not using IE/Outlook anymore. They also have a standalone e-mail called Thunderbird (you want the program, not the beverage).

Arakiel · #4 October 6th, 2004, 07:00 PM

I'm preferential to Thunderbird for a standalone client, although the GMail web based interface kicks butt. I've considered switching to strictly GMail but haven't made the move yet. I have some invites if you need a hookup

Roanon · #5 October 6th, 2004, 07:05 PM

Should be commonly known by now that using IE/Outlook means exposing the computer to highest possible risk. Anything else is better. Anything. I also use and can recommend Mozilla/Thunderbird, easy to use, nice features, and safe.

Possum · #6 October 6th, 2004, 08:45 PM

So where do you get Thunderbird?

Roanon · #7 October 6th, 2004, 08:48 PM

http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/

Electrum · #8 October 6th, 2004, 11:02 PM

I've been switching everybody to thunderbird. It works great. It Free. What more is there to say!
On another note. I have not been that thrilled w/ Norton AV. I loaded it on, didn't like it, & it wouldn't let me take it off. It was worse than a virus! I've been using Panda Platinum 7 as of late. Been working great & has some nice features. On is that it scans network drives. If you have a network, it's worth considering. It's GUI isn't as pretty as others, but does tht really matter?

Sivran · #9 October 6th, 2004, 11:09 PM

If you have as many email accounts as I do, Thunderbird will get rather cluttered.

I suggest Pegasus Mail. It's powerful and safe and ideal for people who have multiple email accounts. You can specify even more identity-specific settings in it than Thunderbird, and in multi-user mode you can micro-manage even further.

Oh, and when you go to create a mail folder, you can choose to store email in unix mbox format, which is widely supported and for which conVersion tools are readily available.

There's also a PGP plugin available that makes using PGP with Pegasus a snap.

Baron Munchausen · #10 October 7th, 2004, 02:21 PM

It was worse than a virus!

Heh...

Yeah, I once had to 'uninstall and re-install' my Norton 2002 and couldn't figure out how to uninstall the "Live Update" package. It has a seperate entry in the Windows installed programs list and no matter how many times you select 'UNinstall' it doesn't work. There's always some excuse not to remove it. Since later edition of Norton are sheer bloatware (and not very effective as many people are saying) I'm still renewng my subscription for 2002. When I finally give up on NAV and switch to something else (AVG and AntiVir are both free) I'll probably have to do a manual edit of the registry to get rid of it.