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Antivirus scanner detects virus in Opera's cache

If your antivirus program warns you of a virus in Opera's cache (stored in the cache4 directory - see Help > About Opera for more information) while checking mail or browsing Web sites, this does not mean that you are infected by a virus.

When you browse the Web or receive e-mail attachments, Opera needs to store files temporarily in its cache in order to handle them. If your antivirus software is set to scan files for viruses, it might alert you that one has been found.

This does not mean that you are infected by a virus.

In order to be infected by a virus, the virus code has to be run. Simply saving a file containing a virus to disk or even opening it without running executable code will not infect your system.

Opera is not known to be vulnerable to any e-mail or Web page viruses, and does not run executable attachments in e-mail automatically. Scripting and plugins are also disabled for mail and newsgroups.

This means that you cannot be automatically infected by a virus when using Opera.

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