Outlook Express Upgrade

MerpsMom

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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A friend sent me an e-mail which included a new OE upgrade. You can personalize, color, animate, etc. Along with it is a toolbar loaded with certain websites which may be of interest to you.

I d/l'd the upgrade, and the toolbar immediately loaded up such websites as Framing, Art, etc. While I'm posting this very second, the toolbar reads off such sites as Software, and Computers. It seems that everywhere I go now, I'm being shadowed on the web. This didn't used to bother me, but I'm vaguely uneasy.

The framing websites were curious. Frame4Yourself which actually gave pretty good information on how-to's), Light Impressions, Graphix Dimensions, and several about house construction, the latter giving me a grin.

As an experiment, I visited an automobile bulletin board. Sure enough, the toolbar changed to Honda, Audio, etc. I have a Firewall set to deny all access when I'm online. Am I paranoid, or should I be concerned? Ron?
 
You are not someone who can leave well-enough alone, are you MerpsMom? It's okay. I'm not either.

It sounds like what you've got there is not so much an upgrade as an aftermarket add-on. Sometimes these things are useful. Sometimes they are intrusive and even difficult to get rid of. I wouldn't probably be alarmed, but personally, I usually like a little cleaner interface.
 
Cathie,

Go into your "new" version of OE and click on the "Help" tab at the top of your tool bar. There should be an entry saying something like:

"About Outlook Express".

Click on that entry and look for a number that reads something like:

5.50.4133.2400

That is your verstion number for OE. (Outlook Express v. 5.5).

If you want to, you can post that version # on this thread and see if anyone else with the same version # has the same tracking device installed. I tend to side with Ron, it sounds like some type of add-on that tracks your interests on the net. They are called "smart tags" and MS was going to use them in their newer versions of Windows XP and OE 6.0.

And I agree wholeheartedly, there is a fine line between showing us what we would like to see on a subject based on our interests and invasion of privacy. The example of the "framing" interest bringing up URL's for frame shop sites and construction sites is exactly what I am talking about. That "smart tag" picked up the word "framing" and then spams you with sites that have nothing to do with YOUR definition of "framing"!

Framerguy (the artsy kind, not the const. kind!) ;)
 
Guys, this thing that Cathie's got may be something altogether different. I'm running Win ME, and OE 6.0, and haven't seen anything like what she's talking about. Sounds like somebody had taged her with some kind of tracker that has been downloaded onto her hard drive, or something like that. I don't know that much about stuff like that. I always delete all of my cookies and any downloads that I don't recognize every day before I shut down, so maybe I did have it at one time, and deleted it. Any thoughts????

Susan :confused:
 
Tom, I'll go into OE and look at that as you suggest. And....even more maddening....as I clicked onto the G here in the shop, it wouldn't let me in. It said I had entered the wrong password. Did not. Didn't enter any at all. Nothing would have it but that I had to re-register yet again in order to get in. I'm now Cathie S. with my original password. What happens when I log on with my home computer? It's all very wearing. I want to go back in time.... :rolleyes: :confused:

I'm afraid to do the cookie toss again, but I think I'll try changing my login name back to MM.
 
Cathie,

If you have ever used MM as a login name prior to today, it probably will tell you that that login name is already taken.

I didn't explain much about "smart tags" because it was over a year ago when they were in the compputing headlines, so, if you are interested in reading the pros and cons of "smart tag" technology, simply go do a google search and search for "smart tags" in quotes. It will pull up about 20 or more sites where you can read about "smart tags". I simply used the meta-tag that was provided to stop any "smart tag" technology from using my site for promotional purposes.

Framerguy
 
Guys, I get a tech newsletter every day from the Atlanta Constitution. This was in today's edition, and sounds remarkably like what's happening to Cathie. Could this be the problem???

Susan


BUSINESS SUNDAY • October 20, 2002


Latest business news / Stock quotes / Georgia stocks / Business email

Personal Technology: Versatile, persistent Bugbear among the worst viruses ever
Phillip Robinson - Knight Ridder Newspapers
Sunday, October 20, 2002

Bugbear is bad.

It's the worst virus in a long while.

It sneaks around, showing up in your e-mail inbox carrying any of a variety of subject lines so you don't immediately recognize it from friends' warnings or newspaper stories.

It spoofs, displaying fake return addresses so you're not sure who sent it.

It lies, using fake file extensions so you think the attachment is a harmless JPEG picture, not a potentially dangerous EXE program file.

It corrupts, turning off most popular anti-virus and firewall programs.

It steals, tracking your keystrokes --- such as your passwords and credit card numbers --- and attempting to send them out to the virus author.

It betrays, opening your computer to the control of the virus author, who could then add or delete files, run programs, or pretty much do anything he or she desired.

That doesn't add up to real danger of the terrorist or sniper kind, but it can waste a lot of your time and money.

The worst news: Your old virus-fighting techniques aren't good enough.

You can't watch out for a particular subject or ''from'' line. You can't depend on your anti-virus software or firewall in all cases.

And you can't just avoid opening any program attachments. First, the file extension spoofing means you can't be sure what's program and what's picture. (Photo images are generally safe to open.) Second, because Outlook Express uses Internet Explorer to view HTML (Web format) e-mail messages, you can end up opening and catching the virus automatically just by looking at your mail.
 
Her issue sounds more like a third party (add-in) commercial program that monitors her internet habits and sends her targeted marketing based on what her interests are. The advertisers popping up are paying fees to the service so they will appear.

This isn't an Outlook upgrade or an official product from Microsoft, but most likely something from an advertising company.

Mike
 
Susan, actually I did this to myself. The website where the download came from is www.hotbar.com. It must have Microsoft's approval as Outlook is a registered trademark of theirs and the teaser proclaimed it as such. There's something in this for someone: I'm just not sure it's something I need. I'll look into murdering it.

So many glitches, so little time.

Cathie, or MM, or someone
 
Cathie, this sort of thing will make you crazy. I still haven't gotten my camera and new computer talking to each other. I've emailed both HP and Kodak, and both of them say it's the other's fault. I'm about ready to pitch the camera out the back to the squirlls, and see what they can do with it.

Susan :( :( :(
 
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