benhenry
10-27-2003, 11:15 PM
I tried to "build" a context menu option that would provide this function:
Highlight an email message in the Inbox (or other folder) of an email client ... Right-Click, choose Virus Scan. This seemed to me to be an obviously valuable option.
I was very surprised that this function didn't already exist as an option in virus scanning software. I can choose to virus scan a file from within my compression utility, from within the FindFile function of my file manager, from within Windows Explorer, from within a download manager, and many other apps. Why not from within an email client? It would provide an extra measure of protection. A "second opinion" from a virus scanner other than the one monitoring the pop3 and imap ports.
I tried many methods but I couldn't build the context menu without invading the resources of the email software. And even if I could get it to work that way, I don't think that is an ethical approach.
So I went to work "outside the box" :got it:
I thought if I wrote a simple batch (a script actually, since my aunts don't like ugly dos-boxes) and installed the shortcut to the batch in the Quick Launch bar next to the shortcut for OE that users could:
1) download their email normally, protected by their existing real-time scanner.
2) click the shortcut to the batchfile for a redundant scan.
The batchfile I wrote simply collects all the dbx files from the user's OE store folder and sends them to a virus scanner. I tested the batch and it successfully collected and then sent the files appropriately.
"Groovy," I thought to myself. My aunts are very conscientious and once they get into the habit of hitting the shortcut to the batchfile, they will be protected much better. (Unless the virus happened to disable both of the scan engines.) "Oh, well," I thought to myself, "they will just have to live a little bit wild sometimes."
Now it was time for final testing. I needed a virus.
Thanks for reading if you have stuck it out this far!
After a break I will continue with:
An email virus scanning test. Part Three. The test. (http://www.mypcclinic.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=1&t=1740)
Highlight an email message in the Inbox (or other folder) of an email client ... Right-Click, choose Virus Scan. This seemed to me to be an obviously valuable option.
I was very surprised that this function didn't already exist as an option in virus scanning software. I can choose to virus scan a file from within my compression utility, from within the FindFile function of my file manager, from within Windows Explorer, from within a download manager, and many other apps. Why not from within an email client? It would provide an extra measure of protection. A "second opinion" from a virus scanner other than the one monitoring the pop3 and imap ports.
I tried many methods but I couldn't build the context menu without invading the resources of the email software. And even if I could get it to work that way, I don't think that is an ethical approach.
So I went to work "outside the box" :got it:
I thought if I wrote a simple batch (a script actually, since my aunts don't like ugly dos-boxes) and installed the shortcut to the batch in the Quick Launch bar next to the shortcut for OE that users could:
1) download their email normally, protected by their existing real-time scanner.
2) click the shortcut to the batchfile for a redundant scan.
The batchfile I wrote simply collects all the dbx files from the user's OE store folder and sends them to a virus scanner. I tested the batch and it successfully collected and then sent the files appropriately.
"Groovy," I thought to myself. My aunts are very conscientious and once they get into the habit of hitting the shortcut to the batchfile, they will be protected much better. (Unless the virus happened to disable both of the scan engines.) "Oh, well," I thought to myself, "they will just have to live a little bit wild sometimes."
Now it was time for final testing. I needed a virus.
Thanks for reading if you have stuck it out this far!
After a break I will continue with:
An email virus scanning test. Part Three. The test. (http://www.mypcclinic.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=1&t=1740)