I think I got an attempt to infect my e-mail.
There’s an attachment that says : Sunflower Bkgrd.jpg [16 KB].
I admit; I’m curious.
Is there any way I can find out what it is, without risking my computer?
- yeah, computer ignorant here*
Do you have an old computer hidden in the back of your closet? I know many people do. I do. Old and junk. Perhaps you can use it to open it.
Just a suggestion.
if you’re using a version of windows that hides file extensions of known file types, it might not be a .jpg at all; If it’s not an attachment you were expecting AND it’s not from someone you know, assume it’s hostile and delete the entire message (holding down the <shift> key so that it deletes it properly, rather than just moving it to the deleted items folder (in Outlook, that is).
Sounds like a background jpeg for a web page. But it could also be a background for an HTML encoded email. Some people think HTML encoded email is cute, as it dolls up an otherwise plain text email. What they don’t consider is many people either disable HTML in their email program (for virus prevention) or use one that doesn’t do HTML. In cases like these the background jpeg will appear as a mysterious, additional, unused and unwanted attachment that just inflates the size of the email by at least 800%.
However, if you’re anti-virus program has warned you or the email is otherwise suspicious, it possibly isn’t a jpeg at all. It’ll be named after a jpeg on the computer of whoever sent you the virus (probably from their web browser cache) but in actual fact it will be the virus. A visual basic script or something. So opening it will only infect your computer. Go ahead if you’re that curious. Viruses depend on this kind of curiosity. One thing that won’t happen is you getting to to see any pretty sunflowers.
Do you know who sent it - and are they trustworthy?
If so then email them back and ask them what they sent and is it safe to open.
I am soooo reminded of a colleague’s story about a co-worker who received an attachment purporting to contain nude pics of Anna Kournikova. He opened it. Then the IT people spent an entire day disinfecting his computer, restoring files, etc.
The next day he got the same attachment. And opened it. :smack: Why? “I didn’t get to see the picture.”
Your life will go on if you don’t open it. Virus writers prey on the curiosity of suckers. Do a surf on Google Images for “sunflowers” if you want to see pretty flowers. And delete that thing post haste.
use a mac to look at it. It is unlikey to be infected with anything serious
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
Well; I * am * a sucker, but I deleted it. A careful sucker, I am.
and, no; I haven’t a spare computer between my mess in the closet.
Thanks 
Sure. Send it to me, and I’ll tell you. 
If it TRULY is a JPG file (not JPG.EXE), why are you apprehensive about opening it? Just how do you expect that to threaten your computer?
There’s an important phrasing in your statement: “…purporting to contain nude pics…”
Obviously, while it may have contained nude pics, it contained much more than nude pics.
How can Joe, the average user, tell? If the actual file name ends with “.jpg”, it is a picture. Open it and enjoy. Obviously this file did not end with “.jpg”, but the extension of an executable file (EXE, VBS, BAT, etc.). A very good reason to have your display of file extensions always turned on, regardless of what Willy Gates thinks.
Example: According to Trend Micro, the actual file name of the Kournikova file is “ANNAKOURNIKOVA.JPG.VBS”.
[MR_ROGERS]Is this a JPG file? No, it is a VBS file.[/MR_ROGERS] But if your file extension display is turned off, it looks like “ANNAKOURNIKOVA.JPG”, doesn’t it?
The Windows idea of attaching file extensions to specific programs so that you can “open” a file by just clicking on it may save a few clisks but also has a downside in that you may be thinking you are “opening” a JPG when in reality it is an executable.
There is an easy way to be safe: Start MS Paint or other graphics program and then open the suspicious file from within that program (File - Open etc).
Of course, if you are not quite sure of what you are doing then better leave it alone. And if you know what you are doing then you know what file type it is.
I am not an expert but I beleive if you are working on a mac with OS 9.1 or later, Windows NT, or any one of those operating systems with multi-user accounts. Create a user account and remove all of it’s administrative access privalages. Download away, and use an administrator account to wipe that users contents clean.
A trojan(which this would be, rather than a virus), doesnt need admin rights to do damage. Best thing to do is delete anything like that unless you really know what you are doing.
If you open the attachment with a user account that’s unable to write to the disk, it can’t do any damage. Of course, setting up an account like that isn’t as easy on Windows as it should be.
Y’all are making this soooo much more complicated than it really is. If it’s a JPG file, just open the damn thing – it’s harmless!
Hide/show file extensions is not really a version (although all Windows versions now default to Hide), but an option. Go to My Computer, View->folder options->view and UN-check “hide file extensions for known file types”.
Then if the file name says “.JPG”, it really is JPG.
Open an image viewer to look at the file. Depending on your e-mail client you might need to export the file first.
Why do I have SO little sympathy for this guy?!
What a fuck-wit
Not to mention most companies have rules forbidding porn on your PC. Even if it wasn’t the nudes implied, but you thought it was, you can be diciplined and or terminated at many companies for trying to get it. At my job I would be amazed if this guy kept his job after the second incident.