E-Mail Attachments and Alternatives (old)
From CFAES Help Documentation and FAQs Project
Documentation and Help (old) > E-Mail Attachments and Alternatives (old)
| WARNING! |
| The information in this article is severely depreciated.It is only provided for legacy purposes and is scheduled to be removed. Please refer to the current revised version of this document, if available. |
E-Mail attachments are wonderful tools for transmitting files across the Internet. This paper is intended to inform e-mail users of some important considerations regarding sending and receiving attachments and to announce a new service enabling you to distribute large files to your colleagues over the Internet.
Contents |
Receiving attachments
Is it a virus?
If the attachment is an executable program, one you might run by clicking on it, it could hold a virus. Many computer viruses are spread in exactly this way. Only the crude and playful viruses make their presence and destructive actions known. Others make small changes to database and spreadsheet data, without detection and while masquerading as a functional program, a game, or a cartoon. Do you want to risk having your data maliciously corrupted?
Remedies and actions
- do not execute the attachment, delete it.
- transfer the attachment to a floppy disk and scan that disk with one of the anti-virus programs. If it scans clean, it is probably safe to execute.
These comments pertain to executable files. A destructive macro instruction sequence can also be embedded in a Microsoft Word word processor file.
Image files cannot hold a virus. A JPG, GIF, etc. format file cannot hold a virus.
Sending Attachments
Any size of file and any number of files can be attached to a piece of e-mail.
Every e-mail account is allocated a certain amount of disk space. Disk space on all e-mail servers is a finite, limited resource which must be shared among all accounts on that server.
Intentionally filling an e-mail server's disk by sending very large or multiple pieces of mail is called a mail bomb. Mail bombs disrupt service to all mail server customers and is called a denial of service attack. It is illegal.
Each AgVAX e-mail account has slightly over 1 megabyte of disk space. When that is exceeded, the e-mail service for that account is automatically disabled.
Quotas are a universal feature of e-mail accounts. Many commercially maintained e-mail services flatly refuse E-mail messages over about 25 thousand bytes.
Attachment Tips
Economic use of word processing files
Word processor files carry a high overhead, sometimes over 100K, of formating information. One can compose a formatted message in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect and then cut and paste the document into a Eudora message. No attachment is needed and the formatting overhead is eliminated.
Eudora Pro itself has a spell check - it is possible to compose in Eudora.
These two methods are also self documenting, which is ideal for record keeping. A complete copy of every post you send in this manner is kept in your OUT mailbox.
If you must attach...
- Generally speaking, do not send attachments over 300 kilobytes (300,000 bytes).
- Use optimal file formats. A JPG image is frequently less than 10% the size of the same BMP image with the same resolution.
- [Anyone with Netscape can view (use File:Open) many graphics formats, and the rest by associating the appropriate add on or plug in program.]
- Use a compression utility. PKZip and WinZIP can compress a text, database, or spreadsheet file up to 90%. Learn to use these tools.
Alternatives to Attachments
Post large files (images, books, etc.) on your web site. Tell your customers the URL, something like http://www.mysite.edu/~myhomepage/myimage.gif and they can fetch the file at their discretion.
Use the Web!
Research Papers, PowerPoint Presentations, large image files can be distributed electronically - and we're happy to assist. Let's do it through the web in a manner that is easy on servers and recipients.
