Viruses in email?

Over the past few days I have been getting virus alerts from my ISP. They tell you what virus was stopped and who from...etc...etc. They are all coming from the same address, only it is my email address with 3D (ie: [email protected]) in front of it. Does anyone know what this is or how to stop it? I talked to my ex sister in law about it and she says someone spoofed my account, meaning they are using my account to send viruses to me? I also got a return failure today that said I sent a message to an invalid account which was also accompanied by the 3D in front of the address.

I have Norton's Firewall and Anti-Virus and both come up clean as far as security issues and viruses.

I don't have any advice for you, Abby, but have received a great deal from members in my recent thread "virus" also in the lounge if you'd want to take a look at that. Dave (Fastdak) offered his assistance through pm or email. Wonder if you would want to try that. I'm sure other members will also gladly lend their services to help out! Stephanie

Originally Posted by Abby7625

Over the past few days I have been getting virus alerts from my ISP. They tell you what virus was stopped and who from...etc...etc. They are all coming from the same address, only it is my email address with 3D (ie: [email protected]) in front of it. Does anyone know what this is or how to stop it? I talked to my ex sister in law about it and she says someone spoofed my account, meaning they are using my account to send viruses to me? I also got a return failure today that said I sent a message to an invalid account which was also accompanied by the 3D in front of the address.

I have Norton's Firewall and Anti-Virus and both come up clean as far as security issues and viruses.

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Sounds like there's nothing you can do presently. If you have your antivirus and firewall software updated and set at certain levels, then you should be okay. If you had a Trojan on your computer, I would assume Nortonâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s would have picked it up by now. There's nothing you really can do at this point. Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s nice that your ISP does let you know about viruses and has a proxy that blocks them. But like I said, there's nothing you really can do, well, unless you change your email address

I'd say you probably have a worm virus, that causes your email program to send out virus' to everyone in your address book. You may have Norton, but do you keep it up to date? If you don't, then new Viruses can still attack your computer. Your best bet, in my opinion would be to update your Norton. Do they have online update? I have McAfee and I get online updates automatically. Anyway, once you've updated your Norton, you should scan your computer for Viruses. If one pops up, often the Anti Virus Program will offer the option to delete it. If so, I'd delete it. Sometimes a Virus can't be deleted by the Anti Virus program in which case, you would have to go to Norton's online site, and it will tell you how to remove the virus yourself. Just don't forget to write down the name of the Virus you have, so if you have to check online how to get rid of it, you'll have the correct name of it.

You should probably download and run Spybot and AdAware as they pick up spyware and other things that the antivirus sometimes misses.

Perform the following:

1. Disable System Restore
2. Perform an Online Virus Scan
3. Download, update and run these tools:
Spybot Search & Destroy
Lavasoft Adaware
CWShredder
4. To protect against reinfection, download and use these:
Javacool's Spyware Blaster
Javacool's Spyware Guard
Malware-blocking HOSTS File
5. Optionally, Re-enable System Restore
6. If you still experience problems after doing these steps, download Hijack This

Hope this helps.

I like the advice given by eneelk.
Turning off your Windows System Restore is essential in any virus removal. Instructions for doing this can be found quite easily through any search engine depending on your operating system.
The only thing that Windows System Restore is really useful for is backing up viruses.. LOL.

Anyways, Abby in regards to your question.
Please ensure that you have run all of your Windows Updates. This can be done through the "tools" menu bar in Internet Explorer.
If you have both antivirus and firewall running the chance is low that you have a virus (but its not impossible).
There is a chance that these E-mails can be a hoax which once opened up they attempt to load a virus onto your machine.
Usually if an ISP has something to inform you about they will call you and not send E-mails. If you have a chance, give them a call and ask them if they have been sending you these E-mails or if these are a 3rd party hoax.

Let us know if we can offer any more help.

-Dave

Dumb question here folks, but why is disabling Windows Restore key to virus removal. This is the first I've heard of that. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to things like this on my computer & I want to make sure I am doing everything right.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by eneelk

Perform the following:

1. Disable System Restore
2. Perform an Online Virus Scan
3. Download, update and run these tools:
Spybot Search & Destroy
Lavasoft Adaware
CWShredder
4. To protect against reinfection, download and use these:
Javacool's Spyware Blaster
Javacool's Spyware Guard
Malware-blocking HOSTS File
5. Optionally, Re-enable System Restore
6. If you still experience problems after doing these steps, download Hijack This

Hope this helps.

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Great advice, but from prior experinces from friends of mine, running spybot and adware on the same system usually causes a few probelms for some reason. I stay with Adaware, but thats me. Other then that great kudos, but I also assume the person is usually updated.

You guys give such great advice!

Originally Posted by Shell

Dumb question here folks, but why is disabling Windows Restore key to virus removal. This is the first I've heard of that. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to things like this on my computer & I want to make sure I am doing everything right.

Thanks!

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I've seen on a couple of occasions that windows does keep in the restore files which do contain viruses. It can some minor problems if not turned off if your scanning for a virus, but be sure you turn it back on afterwards. However, if your antivirus program is running in the background and do virus scans on a weekly basis and definitions updated, you shouldn't need to do this at all.

McAfee and Norton will supply free updates for a year, but afterwards, you must buy a new copy from the store or an online provider. I also need to buy a new copy of McAfee. Sometimes, I get the stinking suspicions that it's all these anti-virus software makers who are producing the viruses just for job security. Notice how quickly they come up with the antidotes.

Everything is up to date which is why I don't understand how I could get anything. I did turn off the system restore and let the online virus scan run overnite, but my connection timed out--I hate dial up..I did find out that I had 37 programs starting up and it was conflicting with the AV program so I took alot of those off and my firewall was set to low so I upped that back to medium. I ran the virus scan again after I changed settings showed 15 adware threats which have to be removed individually so I guess thats the project for tonite.

Abby, no matter how up-to-date you are, some are just bound to get through. Anti-virus programs only respond to virus threats, and there are always people out there building a better virus/worm/trojan. If you were alerted, it means it was stopped. I have been getting 20-30 virus emails per day that were stopped by BitDefender. Anything from someone I don't know or without a clear subject line gets deleted immediately. Even though I don't go many places that I don't know, I run Adaware at least once a month, and there is always spyware on it. Always.

Abby,

I get those types of e-mails on a regular basis. The sender typically uses part of your very own e-mail address or someone else's e-mail address from your ISP. This is just another tactic to get passed spam detection programs. Unless it contains a worm, virus, etc., it's more annoying than anything else. I agree, make certain your anti-virus and firewall are current. I also use Adaware which was recommended by my ISP. It's amazing how much spyware can be installed onto a computer without the user's knowledge.

Shell:
Windows Restore essentially is used to back up all windows files and settings in the event that your computer crashes you can restore to a previous configuration. The only downfall is that it backs up the viruses and problems as well!

arg0:
Ad-Aware and Spy-Bot will cause errors in some cases because they break the association with some spyware programs to other programs or the operating system itself. If you run the program a few times consecutively it usually fixes this glitch. Its much better to have errors like this rather than have the spy-ware and ad-ware.

-Dave

Originally Posted by FastDak

Shell:
arg0:
Ad-Aware and Spy-Bot will cause errors in some cases because they break the association with some spyware programs to other programs or the operating system itself. If you run the program a few times consecutively it usually fixes this glitch. Its much better to have errors like this rather than have the spy-ware and ad-ware.

-Dave

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Good Advice, but if a program continues to cause errors on the first few attempts (and in some cases either deletes or corrupt files in a scanning process, which I have seen personally a few times) I punt kick the program off the computer. I rather not have errors in my case. I want something that works now and works correctly at first. I personally know what to look for anyways in regards to ad or spyware. And for the laymen seeing errors may cause more problems, but thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s my opinion.

Originally Posted by Arg0

Good Advice, but if a program continues to cause errors on the first few attempts (and in some cases either deletes or corrupt files in a scanning process, which I have seen personally a few times) I punt kick the program off the computer. I rather not have errors in my case. I want something that works now and works correctly at first. I personally know what to look for anyways in regards to ad or spyware. And for the laymen seeing errors may cause more problems, but thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s my opinion.

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Spyware scanners will almost never cause damage or modify legitimate programs. In some cases spyware scanners can modify programs which have been patched or "hacked".
Generally speaking, Ad-Aware and Spy-Bot are both good FREE programs which for the most part do the job they are designed to do.

It doesnt matter what type of experience a user has on computers, everyone likes simplicity. Suggesting to computer beginners that they are "laymens" is also not a good way get anyone more comfortable with computers.

-Dave