How to Use Yahoo! Mail as a Virus Scanner

Virus warning on computer screen
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by Heinz Tschabitscher
An independent writer who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated December 03, 2018

Yahoo! Mail automatically checks any file you send (or receive) as an attachment for known viruses. When you are really short of ideas what to do next with your computer, you can use this feature to scan your files for viruses, one by one.

Use Yahoo! Mail as a Virus Scanner

To utilize this trick:

  1. Create a new email message in Yahoo! Mail.
  2. Start attaching your files.
  3. Be sure to remove the files immediately after attaching them.

Yahoo! Mail Classic only allows three attachments per message. And be aware that the process of scanning your files can take a very long time. Every file must be uploaded to Yahoo's servers before it can be scanned. You cannot scan files bigger than 1.5 MB in Yahoo! Mail Classic.