I have a virus too.. it must be catching!

[Tilly Teckel]

My Sky email address is sending out virus emails to everyone in my contacts list and I have no idea how to stop it. My PC died, probably because of a virus, and I now have a new one (old one was a bit pants anyway!). Sky recommend just changing my password, which I have done. Norton Antivirus scans pick up no virus on my computer but the email address is still attacking everyone I know. Any help would be very much appreciated, before I lose all my friends! :~(

[dragonfly]

what worked for me was to delete my entire contact list! drastic but its stopped it - I changed my password too

[Tilly Teckel]

Thanks - will try that!

[dx100uk]

what are you usin to send email...what email prog or are you using the online webmail site?

dx

[Tilly Teckel]

Use Sky webmail site but think the problem may originate with an old aol email account I had linked to the Sky one. Have gone into aol webmail and deleted all my contacts in there too, so hopefully that will be an end to it.

Any ideas as to how it happened in the first place? Don't know much about viruses/hacking etc. and would like to know if there's a better way of preventing it in the future. Thanks!

[dx100uk]

right lets clear this up........

if you use any WEBMAIL interface there is NO WAY for any/everyone in your address book/contacts to be spammed by a virus on your PC ... fullstop.

here is how it CAN happen if you or the people you mail too, do not obey a few basic rules:

1. NEVER put more than ONE email ad in the TO: box
2. NEVER put any emails ad's in the CC: box
3. ALWAYS put everyone else you want to mail the BCC: box

lets give an example of how you get blamed for spamming:

someone [be it you or anyone else] puts several or all their address book/contacts email AD's in the TO: or the CC: box

off goes this email.
it gets to someone running outlook or outlook express that INFECTED with a mailer trojan.
It harvests ALL the emails ad's in the header of the mail BECAUSE IT CAN SEE THEM....some DUMMY has published them all!!

that harvest list is used by the trojans, off it goes any spams away.
it also sends that list to the 'big mother' computer.

big mother sends it out to other infected PC's, one of those....at random select your Email AD to be the SENDER of the spam...simples.

nuff said

dx

[Tilly Teckel]

That's cleared that up then! Think I understood most of it...

[dx100uk]

simple ans is:

NEVER put any other email AD in the TO:box other than your own!

use BCC: to put the email AD of everyone else you wish it to go to...simples

on some programs/webmail sites, the BCC cannot be seen.
simply go into the options tab and select that you want to see it.
if you cant work t out, use the help and type in cannot see BBC field or something like that.

dx