Well put,
    And that's exactly why I asked ... mailing lists are no place for
attachments :-). I just didn't know if the sender knew they were sending
it. Some malicious programming attaches itself to outgoing mail without
the knowledge of the sender.
Amos Brooks

"J. A. Kiernan" wrote:

> Opening any email attachment is, to your computer, the equivalent
> of allowing intimate contact of your body with that of a sexually
> promiscuous other person. You should expect to catch something
> nasty at best and deadly at worst.
>
> To a computer, opening an attachment is potentially more dangerous
> than the comparable human adventure. An unfaithful wife or husband,
> or a frustrated sailor in a foreign port knows what she or he is
> risking, but the sender of an infected email attachment may be well
> known to the recipient but blissfully unaware of having contracted
> and passed on an e-VD.
>
> The solution is simple, but it demands self discipline.
> Delete every email with an attachment, unless you have
> made a prior arrangement with the sender.