A lot of people rely entirely on their virus scans. If it says the mail is OK they will open it. If it is a new virus your scan won't detect it. You have to use some judgement with suspicious mail.
A week or so ago I was one of the first people to be sent the W32 So Big virus. It went through my Norton scan allright but I got suspicious, because it had a file and I didn't recognize the sender big@boss.com.
I tried to bring up www.boss.com to see if it was a site that might be sending me a fishing file. I couldn't bring up the website so I deleted the e- mail without opening it.
I got it a couple of days later with a different file, I deleted it, and a few days after that it came again only this time Norton flagged it as a new virus the W32Sobig.
That old line "don't open the file if you don't know the sender is good advice."
If you are the first in your neighborhood to be sent a new virus you won't have any protection, and if someone targets you specifically with a virus, your a goner if they know how to write it to get by the generic virus updates.
Freepers stay alert; there are people out there who dislike us, and they are not above targeting us with viruses, or virii, as the more advanced would say. - Tom
I do agree but what it doesn't say is, "open the file only if you know the sender is a cautious and paranoid as you are about new viruses."
I believe I have been targeted because I post here, not sure though.
The advice to open only e-mails from known sources should include to NEVER open an e-mail from "yourself", your own e-mail address. Someone has figured out how to use your own address to send you stuff. It is usually set up as your e-mail@somewhereelse.