On 10 Sep 2014, at 11:41 am, David Noel <[email protected]> wrote: > I had this problem about a month ago. It happened because I unthinkingly > clicked on one of the links at the bottom of one of the messages. I'm not > sure it is technically a virus, but I'll call it that here.
No, technically it's not a virus, since you (however inadvertently) made it go by clicking on that link. No malware software can protect against user-initated behaviour, even on Windows. It is sometimes extremely difficult to avoid this, and the phishers and scammers are becoming increasingly clever in creating emails designed to trick you into doing just this. One of the things is that keeps me wedded to Apple Mail is the existence of the Quicklook URL. I never directly click a link in an email without first checking it out. You do this by rolling your cursor over the link, NOT clicking it. When you do this, a small grey button containing an upside-down triangle will appear at the end of the link. When you click this button, a window will appear showing you what is behind the URL. You can then determine very safely whether or not to proceed by clicking the link properly. This has saved me from countless potential evils from supposed posts from Apple, EBay, a multitude of banks, pharmaceutical salesmen, etc. I simply won't use any other email client for this one feature. It's absolutely invaluable. Peter Hinchliffe Apwin Computer Services FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer Perth, Western Australia Phone (618) 9332 6482 Mob 0403 046 948 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
