<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/" type="topic" style="question" id="net-email-virus" xml:lang="pt-BR">
  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="net-email"/>
    <link type="guide" xref="net-security"/>
    <link type="seealso" xref="net-antivirus"/>

    <revision pkgversion="3.2" date="2011-09-26" status="final"/>
    
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Phil Bull</name>
      <email>philbull@gmail.com</email>
    </credit>

    <desc>Viruses are unlikely to infect your computer but could infect computers of people you email.</desc>
    <include xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="legal.xml"/>
  
    <mal:credit xmlns:mal="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/" type="translator copyright">
      <mal:name>Rodolfo Ribeiro Gomes</mal:name>
      <mal:email>rodolforg@gmail.com</mal:email>
      <mal:years>2011</mal:years>
    </mal:credit>
  </info>

<title>Do I need to scan my emails for viruses?</title>

<p>Viruses are programs which cause problems if they manage to find their way onto your computer. A common way of them getting onto your computer is through email messages.</p>

<p>Viruses which can affect computers running Linux are quite rare, so you are <link xref="net-antivirus">unlikely to get a virus through email or otherwise</link>. If you receive an email with a virus hidden in it, it will probably have no effect on your computer. As such, you probably don't need to scan your email for viruses.</p>

<p>You may, however, wish to scan your email for viruses in case you happen to forward a virus from one person to another. For example, if one of your friends has a Windows computer with a virus and sends you a virus-infected email, and you then forward that email to another friend with a Windows computer, then the second friend might get the virus too. You could install an anti-virus application to scan your emails to prevent this, but it's unlikely to happen and most people using Windows and Mac OS have anti-virus software of their own anyway.</p>

</page>
