My wife has Hotmail and asked me if a ZIP attachment is safe to download. I didn't know, actually, even though I felt 99% sure it was scanned automatically. However, I still don't know the official answer, despite spending a full hour searching web sites (including MS pages) for a description of MS's virus scanning policies for Outlook.com downloads. I could only find statements by MS that try to score points against Google by saying they don't scan your emails for data to sell to advertisers. Funny, though, I find nothing saying MS scans for viruses, especially within ZIP files and other archives. My search for an answer should not be so hard.
Can anybody advise on this?
The topic is difficult because MS uses Outlook as a name for their popular email application with Exchange server, so the search results are highly contaminated. If any out there does have an answer, it would help to provide an authoritative reference, as I am not fond of taking a stranger's word that my data is safe because they say so.
Best Answer
It appears they do, how effective it is... thats harder to say:
Regardless, there are basic internet / email rules that should be followed. such as if you receive a downloadable item that you do not recognize the sender or do not trust the sender, do not open it.