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Email attachments come in many forms and unless you are sure of what the attachments consist of, there are several risks to opening them.  Some attachments you are aware of come from friends, family and work, and often these are the ones you will open first.  Just because you know the person sending the email and know the attachment may have been created with a safe program like open office, does not mean that the attachment is safe.  Often hackers will disguise the emails so that it seems like its coming from a known person. Do not be fooled by what you receive and, if for any reason, you are in doubt be sure to call the person sending to clarify. Opening an attachment can bring about a lot of problems for your computer and your personal information.

Hackers will do just about anything to gain your trust so that you will open an email and then try to view the attachment. It only takes a matter of seconds for certain viruses to install and it takes hours to clear them off your system. The damage done can be hard to handle and especially if you have confidential or financial information stored on your computer, which is the first thing that will be transmitted. In any case, it can not be stressed enough, how important it is to know where the attachment is coming from. Sometimes it can be in the form of a document and other times it will be in the form of a video or audio file.

Luckily most email service providers, as well as computers, have virus scans installed that will scan the attachment before downloading. In most cases, the virus scan will warn you if there is any danger in downloading, but there are times too when these attachments can bypass the virus scan. Installing a virus scan is your first priority and if you are unsure, make it a point to consult with a tech support first.