Practicing safe hex (Antivirus)

No, it doesn’t involve witches’ incantations (though some people see hexadecimal code as magic). It’s just a geeky way of saying that you need to use your computer safely and responsibly, even if you already have some defensive capabilities such as antivirus programs. As it happens, some safe-hex practices can also help you differentiate a Trojan horse from a legitimate message. Here’s a checklist of basic pointers:

Never open mail messages from people you don’t know, especially when the subject lines are unfamiliar to you.

Never open mail messages from people you do know when the message’s subject line is strange, garbled, or nonsensical in an unfunny way.

If you have received a message from someone and you’re not sure whether the message is legitimate or not, you should verify the validity of the message first, before you open its contents.

Slow down a little. People in a hurry or under pressure make poor judgment calls. If you’re going through your e-mail too quickly, you’re more apt to open the contents which can easily be a malicious attachment to a sneaky message — before you have time to think about what you’re doing. Such a seemingly minor mistake can have disastrous consequences.

Never open e-mail messages that have no sender listed in the “From:” field. For that matter, messages with no subject line are pretty suspicious too. If you get one of those from someone you know, trash it with out opening it, and e-mail your friend to ask for a re-send with something in the subject line. If your friend didn’t send the original message, that will become clear right away.