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Most email viruses and worms rely on "social engineering", a nice way of saying they hope you are gullible enough to open an executable file attachment. However, older versions of Windows had many security vulnerabilities that can be used by viruses to open attachments without any action on your part. We recommend running Windows Update monthly or at a minimum quarterly, and installing any updates labeled "security" or "critical".
Also be very careful about opening file attachments ending in .exe, .com, .pif, .scr, .vbs, .bat or .zip which may be used to plant a "trojan" or "backdoor" program on your computer. Note that executable files are often disguised by giving them names like "movie.mpeg.exe" or "image.gif.vbs". The usual purpose of planting a trojan is to use your computer at some point in the future as part of an army of zombies to send spam or attack websites, but the trojan gives hackers a backdoor into your computer from which they can do almost anything. Again, invest in a virus scanner and keep it updated.
If you receive an email warning of some new terrible virus, and urging you to forward the email to everyone in your address book, the alleged virus may be a hoax. You might want to check the Symantec and McAfee hoax pages before forwarding the warning.