There is never any harm to opening a plain text message, since the only thing that happens is words are placed on the screen. However, if the message includes programming code, and that code gets executed, the sender can cause a wide variety of other things to occur. There are a few ways that executable code can be included with a message:- As an attachment
- Do not open an executable e-mail attachment unless you are sure of the source, and that it does not contain a virus or other malicious code. At the very least, instead of "Open it", "Save it" to disk and run a virus checker against it before executing it.
- Automatically executed scripts
- E-mail messages can include code written in scripting languages which is automatically executed when you simply click on the message to read it. To prevent this, change your settings to disable scripting languages such as JavaScript or VBScript in e-mail messages. For example, in Netscape Messenger, choose "Edit" then "Preferences" from the menu bar, click on "Advanced", and take the check mark off of "Enable JavaScript for Mail and News". On the line right above that, you can leave the box checked for the "Enable JavaScript" option, which applies to web sites, since JavaScript has useful purposes and is widely used on the web.
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