As you have seen, Outlook 2007 has several ways to help keep your system more secure, but there are additional steps that you can take to further ensure that you don’t fall victim to viruses or other malicious software.

Make sure that your antivirus protection is kept up to date. The threat from viruses changes on a daily basis, and virus definitions need updating just about as quickly. Set your antivirus software to check for updates automatically, and check it occasionally to make sure that it’s doing so.

Create exceptions to the standard rules with discretion. Although there are a number of ways around the virus protection measures provided in Outlook 2007, you should be careful deciding when you use them. Just because you can demote all Level 1 attachments to Level 2 to get past the Outlook 2007 built-in filtering doesn’t mean you should.

If you need to send a file that you know will be blocked by Outlook 2007 on the recipient’s end, you can rename the file to change the file name extension. Changing an .exe file to an .exx file will get it past the Outlook 2007 filters, and because it’s not an actual executable file, it can’t be executed accidentally.

Get in the habit of storing the file in an archive, such as a compressed (zipped) folder, created using Windows Explorer (or a program such as WinZip) before sending. Since files with a .zip extension are not blocked by Outlook 2007, you can be sure that your attachment will arrive, allowing the recipient to save it and extract the contents.

If you have access to a location where you can upload files, such as a file server or an FTP site, upload your files there and send e-mail with a link to the site rather than sending the file as an attachment. This method has advantages beyond avoiding unwanted attachment blocking: Mail files are smaller without large attachments, for example, and multiple people can download a file from a single location.

When it comes to computer security, a little common sense goes a long way. Pay attention to what you do in e-mail. Don’t open unexpected attachments or those from unknown sources.