[John Lenin]

With some of those emails all you had to do was open them and an actice x component gave the perps a back door to your PC. Don't be stupid, sticking up for criminals by calling the victims idiots is so, so, liberal!

[Xenalyte]

That would be why I don't open them. That's what Web-based no-script e-mail is for.

I'm not sticking up for criminals. I am mocking the willfully ignorant. Everyone on the Internet - every single person - has received and heard multiple warnings about spoofing. One cannot avoid the warnings.

[Xenalyte]

I also believe that scantily clad women might, just might, be asking for it. Personal responsibility is paramount in my credo.

[MineralMan]

"With some of those emails all you had to do was open them and an actice x component gave the perps a back door to your PC. Don't be stupid, sticking up for criminals by calling the victims idiots is so, so, liberal!"

You mean Active-X? Actually, you should have your copy of Internet Exploder set to not run any Active-X components, and you should have a virus-scanning program examining your email before you have a chance to open it.

You could also use a mail service like Yahoo, which automatically scans your email for you.

Or, I suppose, you could refuse to open any email at all. That would be a sure way to avoid problems. Just don't deal with email.

Most of us, however, must deal with email on a daily basis. It's easy enough to protect yourself, but not clicking on links in email is the easiest thing in the world to do. As long as you make it a habit, you won't ever do it.

Another good habit is to turn off the display of all HTML graphics in your mail reader. That will help, too.

Instead of getting angry at the people giving good advice about email, try getting angry at the ones sending it to you. You're mad at the wrong people.

[garyhope]

Are all Active X controls bad? I just downloaded one from MS for my MSN Money forum for the stock charts.