On Thursday 30 May 2002 12:21 am, Arthur Dent wrote:
> Hi
> I just began posting on this list and thankfully received a lot of
replies.
> A few of them included an atachment and most of the attachments from
> different people were called attach3. When I went to have a quick
look at
> one of them it said it was of file type pgp...is this some sort of
privacy
> thing??? What does it do, I dont wish to install anything untill I
know.
> When I had windows going I would run it through a virus scanner and
all
> incoming would go through zonealarm fire wall so things were pretty
> tight(As far as I knew). Right now running this linux machine with
no virus
> scan and no firewall makes me feel soooooo vulnerable.....
>
the attachments are pgp signature keys. they certainly won't hurt you
in any
way. pgp allows for encryption of your mail while it's traversing the
distance between addresser and addressee. i don't use it myself,
although,
now that the gumment suspects everybody of everything and has taken to
poking
its nose into everyone's business, it's starting to seem like a good
idea.