# Can you get viruses through Hotmail? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2002, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-viruses-through-hotmail/113737 "2002-06-12T22:27:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Falchoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/76d3ee/32.png) [@Falchoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchoon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-viruses-through-hotmail/113737/1 "2002-06-12T22:27:41Z")
As the question says. I’ve been getting a couple of messages a day from a whole bunch of different unknown people in my Hotmail account that I fear are viruses. I usually can tell by the size of the message and the sender and delete before opening but a couple have slipped through and I’ve opened them by accident. My apologies in advance if this question has already been asked before. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-viruses-through-hotmail/113737/2 "2002-06-12T22:30:15Z")
Hotmail uses Macafee to check for viruses in downloads, but if a virus is very new it may not be caught. Be careful. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-viruses-through-hotmail/113737/3 "2002-06-12T22:39:56Z")
For some unknown reason, some shithead’s mailing list is sending me Klez viruses through Hotmail, starting a day ago, and Hotmail is not stripping them out. Yahoo is stripping them out, however. ---
**Author:** ![Falchoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/76d3ee/32.png) [@Falchoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchoon)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-viruses-through-hotmail/113737/4 "2002-06-13T01:06:32Z")
I’ve been getting a heap of messages with no attachments but they are big (100-200k) so I presume they somehow embed the virus in the HTML? ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-viruses-through-hotmail/113737/5 "2002-06-13T05:34:00Z")
I rec’d over 500 junk emails in my hotmail account one day. I just emptied the whole pile w/o skimming them. I also rec’d some virus thru hotmail once. Maybe klez. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-viruses-through-hotmail/113737/6 "2002-06-13T10:43:53Z")
If you receive a mail from someone that is about 150-200 kb, but it seems to have nothing there when you open it, it’s likely Klez. ---
**Author:** ![Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nenya_Elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-viruses-through-hotmail/113737/7 "2002-06-13T11:14:11Z")
Hmmm, I have been getting these too, the huge 100+ KB emails with no attachments (or text). Opened one or two out of insane curiousity, but have since just deleted them w/o opening. It’s a big pain because large files make me go over my Hotmail storage amount and if someone sends me a real email during the time period that I’m overloaded, it bounces. :mad: Besides the virus worry. I also got mail-bombed one day with about a hundred & fifty identical spams from some unknown address. Since it was just from one addy I just blocked it. Hotmail, for that feature I love you… 🙂 Does just opening those huge files give you the virus? ☹ Because, you know, I’ve been having virus problems lately…What are the characteristics of the Klez virus? In the which case :smack: for being dumb enough to open the stupid things.