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Chances of this being a virus?

B

broadcast

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 21, 2010
52
0
I accidentally opened an email in the Mail app on my computer, it had no subject and just a website link in the body. I did not click the link and deleted the email right away.

I've used Windows most of my life and this is a huge red flag for me.

Thanks for any help!
 
There has never been a virus in the wild that affects Mac OS X since it was released 10 years ago. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some education and common sense and care in what software you install:
What would make you think a simple link in an email is a threat? People send links in emails all the time, with no problems.
 
Again, I'm not as familiar with Mac OS X as I am with Windows. I know on Windows there are definitely viruses that open themselves up as soon as you open the email. I guess when you've used Windows for over 10 years you start getting paranoid over specific things :eek:

I've also just recently started using the Mail app.
 
Gregg2 said:
I don't think so. I believe that you have to intentionally open an executable file to infect even a Windows computer.
Click to expand...

No. There are a lot of viruses and malware for Windows that exploit weaknesses between Outlook and IE. All you would need to do to infect your system with those would be to merely open the email.
 
Im not sure if mine was?

My hard drive was failing and i needed to back things up and using the internet at the time was a pain because of loading flash ads and such so i searched google for a stop flash app for safari.
not having used any safari extensions before i wasn't sure where to look or them so used google.
Having downloaded one i installed it, but could not find it anywhere on my system, not in safari and no spotlight search, applications or utilities.
i then proceeded to download another which did work as expected.

Two days later my gmail was hacked and used for sending of spam messages.
now this could just be a coincidence but ive since had a hard drive replacement i carnt check but its a good idea to remember there may be some things out there that the more advanced users will not touch/use and others will simply use/open and as such give away access to things.
 
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