Can un-opened but visible email pass a virus?

[LeoFlor]

In Outlook, when an item in the inbox is highlighted, the contents become
visible. Is it possible for a virus imbedded in that inbox item to activate
simply because I highlighted it to see the contents even if I do not open it
(by double-clicking on it)?

 

[Joe Grover]

Depending on the email and what your Outlook settings are, yes.

Viruses or other nastiness that would run when an email is opened is
configured to execute when the message is viewed. Whether that view is in
the preview pane or by double-clicking to open the email is irrelevant.

Having said that however, most harmful code will be blocked in a default
Outlook installation (if you're using a recent version at least). Outlook
2003 for example won't even display linked images as they can be used for
tracking by spammers.

I guess the bottom line is that if it's going to execute on your machine, it
will likely do so whether you're opening the email or just previewing it.

 

[VanguardLH]

In Outlook, when an item in the inbox is highlighted, the contents become
visible. Is it possible for a virus imbedded in that inbox item to activate
simply because I highlighted it to see the contents even if I do not open it
(by double-clicking on it)?

Did you leave Outlook configured (which is its default) to use the
Restricted Sites security zone when rendering HTML-formatted e-mails?

Did you leave the Restricted Sites security at its default of High for
settings level (or customize to restrict even further)?

Plain-text e-mails cannot infect. HTML e-mail might infect if you allow
them to run scripts on your computer but the Restricted Sites security
zone does not permit running of scripts. The only thing that using the
Restricted Sites security zone won't protect you from are web beacons
(which are not viruses) but then there should be a setting in Outlook to
disable external content that is linked into any received e-mails. This
option is not available in pre-2003 versions of Outlook but you never
mentioned WHICH version of Outlook that you use. I have OL2002 and use
SpamPal with its HTML-Modify plug-in to disable externally linked
content.

Of course, YOU choosing to save an attachment and run it has nothing to
do with security implemented in any e-mail client but that's not what
you asked about.