1.   I never ever ever ever open an attachment that I did not expect to receive.  Even if it is from my own sister or brother!  My friends all know that if they do not have the courtesy to warn me (or even ask if I WANT the thing), it gets deleted without hesitation.  Nothing is worth a risking a virus for.

 

2.  If I receive an attachment that I expect I never open it from the email but save it to disk first.  That makes it easier for my anti-virus to read it first.  In fact my secondary protection, Zone Alarm, quarantines ALL executable files that come by email.