infected messages

tnframer408

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Posts
1,506
Location
Knoxville TN
Is anyone besides I getting 15-20 virus infected e-mails daily???

I'm totally ignorant of how these things pop up but it's a royal PIA for Norton to be segregating emails that are 165K and above in content
 
You're on the wrong mailing lists, Michael. I haven't gotten a virus in weeks.

Or maybe my virus definitions have expired. :eek:
 
I've recently started receiving 1 or 2 a day. I've never figured out where they come from but thank goodness for Norton!
 
The use of Norton or an equivelent is an essential. I pay for the automatic update service and have not had a virus get in. I am also using ATT.net which scans all email using Norton.
I would also recommend that you look at the size of emails being received more closely. I take a look at any email that is over 50k. There are several worms that are smaller than 150k.
 
I use McAfee (Virex) routinely as well as Norton, but I've never had a virus, trojan horse, or worm that I know of.

From what I gather from the tech advisories, MS Outlook Express is particularly vulnerable to worms, etc. (maybe 'cause so many people use it ). Just to be on the safe side, I switched to Eudora.
 
I get this many per day also, for an email account I maintain for a client. The odd thing is that someone or something sends "fake"(spoofed) emails from competitors in that industry to each other. The viri emails "appear" to be from competitors, and they get the same ones that pretend to be "from" us. If you look at the mechanics of the message, they originate from a third party.

I'm not sure how or why that happens, but it's annoying.

Another large amount of spam is directed to this address because we had it inside a "Formmail FORM" on the web page. (an invisible field inside a customer response form, where someone would inquire for information and it would get emailed to us). Someone "harvested" the email address from there and then used it for target practice.

Any time you post your email address on a public discussion board or a web page, it's likely to get used for this purpose. :(

Mike
 
Yes... always disguise your e-mail address when you post it anywhere online (for example, by writing webgirl@REMOVETHISweb.com or webgirlATwebDOTcom). That way, you ensure that a robot or web spider can't just come along and scoop up your valid e-mail address, and use it for spam.

Use a good virus checker, like Norton or McAfee.

And where possible, don't sign up for internet services, software, etc, that require your e-mail address! Undoubtedly, it will end up being given or sold to third parties for marketing purposes.
 
I haven't had a virus come to my computer since I started having my email provider scan all my eamils for me. They send me an alert when they find and destroy a virus. We had one the other day that said it had come from us. The viruses that say they are from a fake address or from someone you know are probably some form of the klez virus. It goes into the email addresses of stored on the infected computer and uses the ones it finds as the "from" part of the infected email. It also combines bits and makes up new ones as well as making up new subjects. Makes it hard to tell were it is actually from. Someone in my gardening group is infected right now, but we haven't figured out who.
 
Hi Anne,

If you look at the headers of the infected email (sometimes hidden by your email program), you'll know which IP address it came from, the local name of the person's machine, what software they used to send it, and what server processed it. (you'll know which address the computer that sent it used, and what internet company they use. Some addresses will even tell you what city and state, once resolved)

With a little detective work, you can get more info that might make it easier to figure out the source. I'll be glad to extract all of this for you if desired. If so, send me the infected email and i'll email you back with the details. (am I crazy, asking for a virus?) heh

Mike
 
Back
Top