Virus in attchments?

[Combwork]

I'm on AOL. Is there any way of checking if an attachment is safe to open without opening it first? Somewhere safe to forward the email to before I open the attachment? As well as AOL I've got a gmail account for non business use.

I repair antique musical boxes and sometimes get genuine inquiries from new potential customers whose first language isn't English. When asking about the cost of repairing a comb they might include an attachment of a photo showing the damage.

The free version of AVG loads whenever I turn on the computer.