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Is the Hallmark Postcard virus a real or fake. I receive certain warning related to that. I have some of them in my inbox, but I am not sure to click on the greetings. I do not want to just land upon a trouble and hope there will be some way to get rid of such stuff. Is there a way to detect which link is safe and which is not. Thanks.
It is a hoax I think. There are less chances that this may carry virus. You must not click on any redirected link or allow anything to install. I had seen number of fake ecards which simply re-directs a user to certain websites. Keep your antivirus updated and if possible switch to the one which has a anti-spyware or anti-malware. So in case if anything is infected you can stay on the safe side.
You can contact the site from where you are receiving those e-cards. If they are reliable then you can open and check the message. E-cards offers you a much interactive way of sending messages and I really like them. E-cards are mostly sent through a website link which has the actual file and you need to click the link to open them. There many chances that when you click on them you can prompt to install something. Do not allow any of those. There is no antivirus that can detect hoax and say that the link is valid or not.
If they are listed under spam then you must ignore the same. Do not click the links which are send multiple times. I had seen a number of hoax related to some virus, but there I am not sure that they are 100% safe. There are some sample mails on snopes that you can check about the hoax e-card. If you are having any mail related to that you can simply ignore it and delete the message. I am using Norton Internet security that offers a safe browsing. You must also have some kind of antivirus that is capable of giving you best security.
You can find some information on this type of emails on Hoaxbusters. That is the best site I think you can use to find hoaxes on web. Virus are mostly distributed in the from of attachment or links to other users. And when it is opened or clicked it spreads around. There are tons of hoax mails listed arranged in the form of alphabetical order.