I have just got a lot of un-subcription e-mails,from the tipshop,YSRnRY,RZX archive.And then i got one from Skarpo?,telling me i had a virus!.Has anybody else had any troublesome e-mails like mine?.
I see the emails you mention in the mailserver logs (all of the 3 lists are handled on this server). Looks like you are infected by a virus that is spamming every address in your mail client history and/or address book.
Best make sure at least the spam run is stopped or your ISP might cut your connection (no, not due to me calling them).
I deal with this on a daily basis. I'll give some recommendations while attempting not to criticize the other recommendations (different people have different ways of removing viruses, and their favorite stuff to use).
AVG free or any other free anti-virus is free for a reason. If you read the fine print at their website you see that they also sell a full version. Why would they sell one if their free version did the same thing? The free version only offers basic protection and will basically ignore some of the bad stuff. There is no perfect anti-virus, but the free ones are not the best ones.
If you have been using e-mail software such as Outlook or something similar, your issue might have been caused by a virus. The virus reads your contacts/address book and sends spam to everyone on that list. But if you simply use your browser to check your e-mail (let's say, Yahoo.com), your email account might have been compromised. This can happen because of a very bad password but sometimes it also happens if the account was hacked or if someone had monitoring software installed on one of the computers you used and they recorded your keystrokes. Some viruses can record your keystrokes and send the information to someone else via your internet connection, but there are also programs that somtimes are valid, legal software, designed to log and save everything you do on your computer, including keystrokes. When you have decent security software, it detects if such software is installed on your computer.
The first thing most people do is change their email password. But since the damage is already done, it might be necessary to let all your contacts know they should block your email permanently (because whoever or whatever has your contacts already got your contact list and this fact won't change even if your computer is virus free). A new e-mail account should be created and your contacts should be informed of your new e-mail.
SpyBot is ok but if you want to have an idea of how good (or bad) your computer is in term of viruses, run Malwarebytes Antispyware. If it finds a lot of stuff, copy and paste the log here. If there are viruses on your computer it might take more than one step to get rid of them. Some things can be removed via automated tools, some have to be removed manually, and sometimes the operating system needs a couple things fixed after a virus removal.
Just out of curiosity, did you had a short, simple email password?
Let us know if you find any virus on that computer. I've removed dozens of viruses from computers that were running stuff like AVG free, Avast, Avira, Security Essentials, Kaspersky, Norton, Mcafee, etc. And some of these computers already had SpyBot S&D and other similar tools installed...
(waiting for the Mac or Linux user to say "Stop using Windows")
Top post. I've got the paid version of AVG, not that dear at all and 'seems' to do a good job (Been much better than McAfee which i had for years and failed a lot).
Malware Antispyware as you say is a good un, i run that a fair few times.
How about the windows firewall ? I dont trust any of the inbuilt firewall/virus checkers. I'm using the firewall with the paid version of AVG.
I use Avira freeware antivirus,and comodo firewall,used to use Zonealarm but it has become weak with recent versions.
Also i use Spybot and on occasion might run a program like Total System Care
Downloaded Malwarebytes full edition,scanned PC nothing found.Upgraded AVG to full edition,scanned PC nothing found.Un-installed Spybot.My spam meesages from my ISP's address book has stopped for now.Will see what happens in the coming days.
Colin
Malwarebytes log:-
12:46:36 Colin MESSAGE Protection started successfully
12:46:40 Colin MESSAGE IP Protection started successfully
How do you access your e-mail? Outlook? Thunderbird? Web browser? Who do you have e-mail with? Yahoo? Gmail? Did you change your e-mail password? If so, was the previous one too simple or short?
How do you access your e-mail? Outlook? Thunderbird? Web browser? Who do you have e-mail with? Yahoo? Gmail? Did you change your e-mail password? If so, was the previous one too simple or short?
Hi ZXBruno
E-mail is accessed by ISP(AOL) and i have E-mail by the same company.I use Firefox 3.6.12 & Internet explorer 8.I haven't changed my E-mail password yet,and it's only a 6 character password.
Just changed E-mail password,it's now a 11 letter & 2 number password.
How about the windows firewall ? I dont trust any of the inbuilt firewall/virus checkers. I'm using the firewall with the paid version of AVG.
All third party firewalls are doing these days is effectively hooking exactly the same functionality that Windows Firewall uses. Unless you have some particular fondness for the UI they present, you aren't really gaining anything.
The problem I find with most antivirus and firewall tools (Microsoft Security Essentials excluded) is that they need to convince you that you're being protected, even when you aren't being subjected to any kind of attack. They kind of need you to feel threatened in order that you'll stump up for the paid versions. This has the habit of making them overly "noisy" or of flagging up ordinary network traffic as somehow something you needed protecting against.
Windows Firewall and MSE, by contrast tend towards staying quiet unless you actually need to do something - motivated rather more by making you feel safe rather than threatened. Which is rather nicer, in my opinion.
E-mail is accessed by ISP(AOL) and i have E-mail by the same company.I use Firefox 3.6.12 & Internet explorer 8.I haven't changed my E-mail password yet,and it's only a 6 character password.
Just changed E-mail password,it's now a 11 letter & 2 number password.
Colin
Thanks. But how do you check your email? Do you open your web browser and go to aol.com or do you use aol's own software?
About the firewalls, I still like to use Ashampoo's free version. It gets the job done and it's better than the Windows built-in one. A.f.a.i.k. the Windows firewall doesn't prevent outbound connections, only inbound. I like to have control over what program is able to connect with the outside world. There are many firewalls with similar functionality, but I find Ashampoo's gui a lot easier to use.
I had something similar a few days ago, i got an email from my brother on MSN but when i clicked on it a warning came up from ANG saying 'Threat detected, this email contains a virus'. Before i had a chance to do anything AVG then said 'Virus has been removed' and the email vanished. I did a virus and spyware scan just to be sure but nothing showed up. I phoned my brother and he said he never sent me an email.
I use AVG free also and Spyware Terminator.
A.f.a.i.k. the Windows firewall doesn't prevent outbound connections, only inbound.
Windows Firewall has been capable of outbound filtering since Vista (well technically you can also do it on XP but it requires deep knowledge of IPSec), though it doesn't bother switching this on by default as outgoing filtering is rather ineffective regardless of which firewall software you use.
Thanks. But how do you check your email? Do you open your web browser and go to aol.com or do you use aol's own software?
About the firewalls, I still like to use Ashampoo's free version. It gets the job done and it's better than the Windows built-in one. A.f.a.i.k. the Windows firewall doesn't prevent outbound connections, only inbound. I like to have control over what program is able to connect with the outside world. There are many firewalls with similar functionality, but I find Ashampoo's gui a lot easier to use.
ZX Bruno,i use use aol's own software to check my E-mail.I rarely use Firefox or Internet explorer for E-mails.Will check out Ashampoo's firewall.Thanks for everything so far.
Comments
I see the emails you mention in the mailserver logs (all of the 3 lists are handled on this server). Looks like you are infected by a virus that is spamming every address in your mail client history and/or address book.
Best make sure at least the spam run is stopped or your ISP might cut your connection (no, not due to me calling them).
I am using AVG 10 free edition.
and things like spybot ?
get em all off
www.filehippo.com
to get rid of the pesky thing you may have to boot in safe mode (and even turn off sys restore if it doesn't go) .. see what it finds to remove
Hi Fog
I am just using Windows 7 firewall,nothing else.I have Spybot & Adaware installed,but how do i turn off Sytem restore?.
Colin
AVG free or any other free anti-virus is free for a reason. If you read the fine print at their website you see that they also sell a full version. Why would they sell one if their free version did the same thing? The free version only offers basic protection and will basically ignore some of the bad stuff. There is no perfect anti-virus, but the free ones are not the best ones.
If you have been using e-mail software such as Outlook or something similar, your issue might have been caused by a virus. The virus reads your contacts/address book and sends spam to everyone on that list. But if you simply use your browser to check your e-mail (let's say, Yahoo.com), your email account might have been compromised. This can happen because of a very bad password but sometimes it also happens if the account was hacked or if someone had monitoring software installed on one of the computers you used and they recorded your keystrokes. Some viruses can record your keystrokes and send the information to someone else via your internet connection, but there are also programs that somtimes are valid, legal software, designed to log and save everything you do on your computer, including keystrokes. When you have decent security software, it detects if such software is installed on your computer.
The first thing most people do is change their email password. But since the damage is already done, it might be necessary to let all your contacts know they should block your email permanently (because whoever or whatever has your contacts already got your contact list and this fact won't change even if your computer is virus free). A new e-mail account should be created and your contacts should be informed of your new e-mail.
SpyBot is ok but if you want to have an idea of how good (or bad) your computer is in term of viruses, run Malwarebytes Antispyware. If it finds a lot of stuff, copy and paste the log here. If there are viruses on your computer it might take more than one step to get rid of them. Some things can be removed via automated tools, some have to be removed manually, and sometimes the operating system needs a couple things fixed after a virus removal.
Just out of curiosity, did you had a short, simple email password?
Let us know if you find any virus on that computer. I've removed dozens of viruses from computers that were running stuff like AVG free, Avast, Avira, Security Essentials, Kaspersky, Norton, Mcafee, etc. And some of these computers already had SpyBot S&D and other similar tools installed...
(waiting for the Mac or Linux user to say "Stop using Windows")
Malware Antispyware as you say is a good un, i run that a fair few times.
How about the windows firewall ? I dont trust any of the inbuilt firewall/virus checkers. I'm using the firewall with the paid version of AVG.
Also i use Spybot and on occasion might run a program like Total System Care
Downloaded Malwarebytes full edition,scanned PC nothing found.Upgraded AVG to full edition,scanned PC nothing found.Un-installed Spybot.My spam meesages from my ISP's address book has stopped for now.Will see what happens in the coming days.
Colin
Malwarebytes log:-
12:46:36 Colin MESSAGE Protection started successfully
12:46:40 Colin MESSAGE IP Protection started successfully
Hi ZXBruno
E-mail is accessed by ISP(AOL) and i have E-mail by the same company.I use Firefox 3.6.12 & Internet explorer 8.I haven't changed my E-mail password yet,and it's only a 6 character password.
Just changed E-mail password,it's now a 11 letter & 2 number password.
Colin
I can recommend MSE.
All third party firewalls are doing these days is effectively hooking exactly the same functionality that Windows Firewall uses. Unless you have some particular fondness for the UI they present, you aren't really gaining anything.
The problem I find with most antivirus and firewall tools (Microsoft Security Essentials excluded) is that they need to convince you that you're being protected, even when you aren't being subjected to any kind of attack. They kind of need you to feel threatened in order that you'll stump up for the paid versions. This has the habit of making them overly "noisy" or of flagging up ordinary network traffic as somehow something you needed protecting against.
Windows Firewall and MSE, by contrast tend towards staying quiet unless you actually need to do something - motivated rather more by making you feel safe rather than threatened. Which is rather nicer, in my opinion.
Thanks. But how do you check your email? Do you open your web browser and go to aol.com or do you use aol's own software?
About the firewalls, I still like to use Ashampoo's free version. It gets the job done and it's better than the Windows built-in one. A.f.a.i.k. the Windows firewall doesn't prevent outbound connections, only inbound. I like to have control over what program is able to connect with the outside world. There are many firewalls with similar functionality, but I find Ashampoo's gui a lot easier to use.
I use AVG free also and Spyware Terminator.
Windows Firewall has been capable of outbound filtering since Vista (well technically you can also do it on XP but it requires deep knowledge of IPSec), though it doesn't bother switching this on by default as outgoing filtering is rather ineffective regardless of which firewall software you use.
ZX Bruno,i use use aol's own software to check my E-mail.I rarely use Firefox or Internet explorer for E-mails.Will check out Ashampoo's firewall.Thanks for everything so far.
Colin