MIT: Executables Be Gone!

If a user must send an executable, he or she should "zip" them into compressed files; the recipients can then extract these zipped files. Getting users to do this will take some training, but the process isn't rocket science. Of course, this isn't a perfect solution: Users can and will unzip files to get to the infected files, but at least they won't be infected by some helpful e-mail client that decides to run a program automatically.

MIT has posted a list of Windows executable extensions at mit.edu/services/mail/attachments.html to help you bar the door on your own e-mail system

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