Solved Safe to open spam in Outlook webmail?

I'm wondering if I can get infected just by opening an spam email, or do I need to actually click on a link inside the email? Also my email seems to be loading images by default is that even safe?

I believe that spam emails from certain resources have managed to get so sophisticated that they are able to harm your computer from just opening them.

Of course as a rule of thumb if you do not know the email recipient and it looks suspect do not open it. Also on spam emails do not open anything inside of them like a link or picture if you just so happened to of opened the the email.

Make sure that you are fully updated from a Windows and antivirus standpoint.

I personally recommend turning of the images by default, I run mine where it will not load pictures and I also have no navigation pane or anything. I never open anything I was not expecting or unless in my own eyes it seems like it is from a reputable source.

I think mostly it is just using your email account with common sense, so do not get to worried just do what you feel is right and crack on.

Hope that helps.

Harry

Thanks to the advent of HTML mail, your system can be infected just by opening an email message now. And if your mail client has a preview pane that shows you the contents of a message before you’ve opened it, you don’t even have to open the message to be infected!

Click to expand...

Most of the viruses in this category (so far) have been specifically created to take advantages of flaws in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.

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What to do with all that spam - Outlook - Office.com

Microsoft Outlook Spam Filter

Probably a good idea not to open them at all.

Block or unblock automatic picture downloads in e-mail messages - Outlook - Office.com

Borg 386 said:

Thanks to the advent of HTML mail, your system can be infected just by opening an email message now. And if your mail client has a preview pane that shows you the contents of a message before you’ve opened it, you don’t even have to open the message to be infected!

Click to expand...

Most of the viruses in this category (so far) have been specifically created to take advantages of flaws in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.

Click to expand...

What to do with all that spam - Outlook - Office.com

Microsoft Outlook Spam Filter

Probably a good idea not to open them at all.

Block or unblock automatic picture downloads in e-mail messages - Outlook - Office.com

Click to expand...

Here's what I'm confused with, all of that appears to be in the email client that you manually download, I'm talking about outlook.com webmail, I probably got it wrong but how does it automatically download to my computer if I only use the webmail.

Once you connect to the mail client, you are vulnerable to attacks since your PC is communication with the Outlook mail client.

I've used Outlook express in the past, but I haven't used it for a while.

As I mentioned, it would be best to just avoid opening them in the first place & automatically delete them. Set up spam filters & disable the picture downloads.

Borg 386 said:

Once you connect to the mail client, you are vulnerable to attacks since your PC is communication with the Outlook mail client.

I've used Outlook express in the past, but I haven't used it for a while.

As I mentioned, it would be best to just avoid opening them in the first place & automatically delete them. Set up spam filters & disable the picture downloads.

Click to expand...

OP is referring to outlook.com in a browser, not a desktop mail client...

garydexter said:

OP is referring to outlook.com in a browser, not a desktop mail client...

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Roger that. I saw that, I just wanted to mention I have some experience with Outlook, but not a whole lot. I use Thunderbird for my mail.

How to Mark a Message as Junk in Outlook.com - About Email

Spam Filtering and Message Hygiene