Should I be afraid to get a virus with .jpg, .xls, .xlsx format in e-mail attacks?

Question

Malware

I'm far from being a noob, maybe I'm just a little behind the times?
I'm just afraid of catching a virus by mail through attached files.
I understand that jpg is not an executable file, but is it possible, for example, using a Windows vulnerability, to still launch a virus that is glued to jpg?
The same goes for excel. What is the probability of catching a virus with this format?

Answer 1

Everything is possible on Windows)
No, I'm quite real. You can even make the machine infected just by opening a letter. You don't even need an attachment.

Answer 2

In the vast majority of cases, infection occurs through executable files. Therefore, I think that infection through jpeg is unlikely (if it is really .jpg, and not picture.jpg.exe ).
Infections through office documents are much more real, since they can contain executable malicious code (Visual Basic, macros, all sorts of OLE and other dregs that exist there). Microsoft is constantly shutting down exploits in its office applications, and introducing new ways to protect itself. So 2010 and 2013 offices downloaded files are first opened in readonly mode, the execution of macros and so on is previously prohibited.