There are several clients available for checking email. The one that we recommend for use is Mozilla Thunderbird. Of all the email clients, aside of webmail, Thunderbird seems to provide some of the best protection. While Microsoft Oulook is also a relatively safe email client, it requires a lot of configuration to make it safe, which is done by COB Tech Support for all COB computers. Thunderbird requires little configuration to make it secure.
Microsoft Outlook Express is quite possibly the worst Email client on the market in terms of security. We strongly recommend that if you are using the client, please move to either Mozilla Thunderbird or Microsoft Outlook.
We also recommend that any email client you use, configure it to only operate in Plain Text mode. HTML and RTF embedded emails are very dangerous can be crafted in a way that can foul even the best users into thinking their email is safe and/or legitimist.
When reading your email, assume that every email is a potential virus, even if it comes from a friend. When you write out a return address on an envelop that is to be mailed via the US Postal Service, it is very easy for you to just write down a return address of someone else. Not that we would ever recommend you do that. When it comes to email, it is that easy for a hacker to put a fake return email address on an email they send you.
When friends and family send you emails that have links to so called funny pictures or web sites, just delete the message. It is not worth taking the risk that the web page you are going to is actually a virus intended on tricking you into a false sense of security.
You can download Mozilla Thunderbird here: http://www.mozilla.org/download.html