Systems and methods for securing computers

1. A method for avoiding electronic mail (email) attacks on a computer, comprising:

downloading to a first email application running on the computer one or more emails in virtual-copy format to prevent the one or more emails from executing;

determining by the first email application whether a potentially infected email is in the one or more emails; and

displaying the potentially infected email to a user and providing a user interface to allow the user to select and delete the infected email using the first email application prior to downloading emails to a second email application running on the user's computer.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising allowing non-infected emails to be accessed.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising downloading non-infected emails to an email software.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the email software is Microsoft Outlook.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising parsing the downloaded virtual-copy format emails to determine whether the emails are secure.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein potentially infected emails are determined based on one or more of the following: an email from field, an email to field, and an email subject field.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining whether a security policy exists.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the security policy specifies characteristics of potentially infected emails.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising removing one or more potentially infected emails based on the security policy.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying a summary for each email.

11. A system for avoiding electronic mail (email) attacks on a computer, comprising:

means for downloading to a first email application running on the computer one or more emails in virtual-copy format prevent the one or more emails from executing;

means for determining by the first email application whether a potentially infected email is in the one or more emails; and

means for displaying the potentially infected email to a user and providing a user interface to allow the user to select and delete the infected email using the first email application prior to downloading emails to a second email application running on the user's computer.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising means for allowing non-infected emails to be accessed.

13. The system of claim 11 , further comprising means for downloading non-infected emails to an email software.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the email software is Microsoft Outlook.

15. The system of claim 11 , further comprising means for parsing the downloaded virtual-copy format emails to determine whether the emails are secure.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein potentially infected emails are determined based on one or more of the following: an email from field, an email to field, and an email subject field.

17. The system of claim 11 , further comprising means for determining whether a security policy exists.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the security policy specifies characteristics of potentially infected emails.

19. The system of claim 17 , further comprising means for removing one or more potentially infected emails based on the security policy.

20. The system of claim 11 , further comprising code to:

retrieve emails in raw format and store emails in the virtual-copy format;

extract e-mail headers including To, From, Subject, Cc, Bcc, Attachment and Body text;

diagnose the headers To, From and Subject data to detect a virus pattern or behavior; and

diagnose an attachment file to detect any potential auto run pattern or behavior.