Topic: Apologies to anyone.....

[Ninnyscrops.]

....who has received a spurious email from me. I've been hacked and I'm so ruddy hacked off about it too  >:(

When will these silly people learn and what is the blooming point!

A really cheesed off Ninny  >:(

[BarriedaleNick]

Ninny are you sure you have been hacked.
It is very easy for spammers to use your emial address to send mail without hacking you.  That way mail looks like it is coming from you and is less likely to get stopped by spam filters but they don't need to know passwords or be able to log on to your account to do this.

I see it all the time at work and it's a pain but not neccessarily all that bad..

[Chrispy]

BarriedaleNick is certainly right, but there is a virus going round that once it infects you computer, uses it to e-mail your friends under your name in order to infect other computers.

So it could just be somebody using your address, or you could have a virus, if you posted more details I am sure one of us will be able to tell you the difference.

[djbrenton]

Is this just a lame attempt to explain the drunk emailing you've been doing?  :D

[Ninnyscrops.]

Is this just a lame attempt to explain the drunk emailing you've been doing?  :D

Just read this Mr Brenton  :o  ;D

Upshot is, my lappy has gone back to the manufacturer as it couldn't even be rebooted in the store we bought it from. Was told AVG free edition is like having near to nothing at all in the way of protection so going the paid Norton way when it comes back.

Borrowing hubby's pro temp, when I can get a look in  ::)

Ninnys

[Deb P]

Not happy with Norton at all, I had their paid for package on my computer when it was hacked last month, and AVG was recommended and found an unauthorised access attempt the first time I ran it that Norton had missed...are they trying to sell you something?

[BarriedaleNick]

AVG is fine but retaillers tend not to like free products esp when they are trying to seel you something. This shop wouldn't be PC World would it?

I've used free AVG or Avast for years - nowt worng with them.

On the other hand no-one I have ever met who works in IT would touch Norton with a barge pole - even if it were free.

[goodlife]

I'm ex-Norton user too..had different version and packages for yeeears and it was always more trouble than it was worth it.
Last year when I bought my new puter..people here recommended few alternatives...and I ended up downloading free Microsoft protection program (can't remember the proper name for it now) and I haven't had problems at all..!
...and best part of it is that I've saved myself so much money and will do in future that it practically covers majority of my seed shopping per year.. ;D

[Ninnyscrops.]

AVG is fine but retaillers tend not to like free products esp when they are trying to seel you something. This shop wouldn't be PC World would it?

I've used free AVG or Avast for years - nowt worng with them.

On the other hand no-one I have ever met who works in IT would touch Norton with a barge pole - even if it were free.

It was Comet, Nick. I used to have AVG but whatever the bug/virus/meanie monster was, it got through it, and now I'm doubting Norton with all the comments.

I thought about dumping the lappy and writing letters instead, but that's gone out the window with the postal price hike today.  :(

Ninnys

[jimtheworzel]

i have allways used  kaspersky and its all ways been fine
i dont trust the free downloads from the internet...£19.99 is not a lot to pay for 365 days securety
remember   you never get owt that any good for nowt !!

[BarriedaleNick]

I am always surprised by people knocking free stuff especially since most of what we consume on the internet is free to use.  Firefox, Chrome, IE, Safari are all free browsers.  This site is free to use as are most sites - this site is certainly contrary to that "never get owt...".  You can get free media players (VLC), free malware checkers, free operating systems, free web development tools, free online hosting, free cloud server space etc etc etc.  Just because something is free to the end user doesn't mean it isn't any good - is just a different model of making money from the back end of the product rather than from the user (initially).  Times have changed an old adages no longer apply.

Having said that Kaspersky is excellent both in terms of value and utility!!

[Curryandchips]

Just popped back in for a look around, and decided to comment ...

I used to use AVG, but found it did not work well with firefox, so looked for other 'free' solutions. My computer techie son said Windows Security Essentials works really well (and he is NOT pro-microsoft) and I agree, first scan after I removed AVG it found several things 'lurking', even if harmless, and now my machine doesnt seem to behave so spuriously ...

[InfraDig]

I have used Avira form free-av.com for a long time with no problems.

A slight aside: what is the equivalent for an ipad?

Thanks

[Gordonmull]

Microsoft security essentials for me and Malwarebytes to do the scanning and removing. If Malwarebytes won't detect and fix then you're on to serious, serious stuff. I really wouldn't pay for virus protection. Malwarebytes is written by malware hating people. The free version is kick-ass for what I use it for and the "Pro" version is where they make their money - it has real-time protection etc.

AVG has let several viruses through it's rather ineffectual realtime protection. Not had a problem since I installed security essentials about 6 months ago.

I got my hotmail account hacked a couple of years ago and actually found my email address and old password on some foreign forum in a list of many other hotmail login details. Happens.

Just while we're on the subject - always remember to turn off your system restore and boot up in safe mode when removing a virus.

[chriselst]

As the go to guy for everything computer related for almost everyone I know I would also recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.

I've been putting it on all machines I setup for people for a couple of years now, and the amount of virus removal I have to do has been dramatically reduced, and I haven't had to clean a single machine with MSE on.

Only problem with switching is that getting an old virus checker off a PC is almost as hard as removing a virus itself, but for any new machines do not buy virus checking software, there really is no need, and install MSE.

[retro]

In the majority of cases where someone or something is sending e-mail from your account, it is NOT a virus!

Granted, you should check your system first.  Here's my recomendation.

• If you don't like your current Antivirus, uninstall it and choose another.  The free ones are fine.  I recomend Avast.
• DO NOT run more than one Antivirus product, or firewall.  If you have more than one, uninstall all but one (one antivirus and one firewall is fine).
• Update your antivirus definitions and do a full scan.  Quarantine anything found.
• Install either SuperAntiSpyware or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, update and do a scan.  Remove any infections.
• CHANGE YOUR E-MAIL PASSWORD!

It is far more likely that you have fallen victim to a phishing scam, so changing your e-mail password is the most important step.  You'll probably find that little, if anything was found during the antivirus scan.

It is important to make sure you do not fall victim to phishing scams again!  Do not click on links you are unfamiliar with, even if they are from friends.  If in doubt, hover over the link.  If the target site (that appears in your status bar) is long, or on a foreign domain, or has a load of random characters in it, don't click on it!  The same goes for e-mails allegedly from your bank etc.  Remember that companies such as your bank know your name and will identify you in an e-mail.  If in doubt and you want to verify an email is correct, forward it to the organisation.  It's best not to click any link to your bank etc., but visit their website by typing the URL in your browser.

Stay safe!

Incidentally, as an IT Technician, I don't recommend Norton or McAfee.  They're horrible resource hogs.  If you want a paid Antivirus, Kaspersky has always been good.  However, as I said before, the freebies are OK and I find Avast to be the best of the bunch.  Just about the only freebie that is OK to use if you're a business is Comodo.  You may get annoyed with it blocking everything that wants to use the Internet, but at least it's erring on the side of caution!  Oh, and although I'm a Microsoft Certified Professional, I don't recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.  Horrible software!  I prefer either SuperAntiSpyware, or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.  And yes, those can be used alongside antivirus software... in fact, you could use both!

If you're still in doubt, send me a HijackThis log (DON'T go removing things with it willy-nilly - just scan and save log) and I'll tell you if there's anything to worry about on your system.

[BarriedaleNick]

In my experience when other people receive an email proporting to be from you then mostly it isn't phising or a virus or anything untowards - just spammers using your email address, which for them is very easy to do.  Obviously they have long lists of email addresses and they just use a random addresses spoofed as the sender.
I have been on the receiving end of this often and it can be frustrating esp when people take it on themselves to harass me via email for all the spam.  I have seen businesses lose web connectivity for days due to volume of incoming mail and I have seen domains blacklisted because of it..

However always good advice to keep AV/malware protection up to date..

[retro]

In my experience when other people receive an email proporting to be from you then mostly it isn't phising or a virus or anything untowards - just spammers using your email address, which for them is very easy to do.  Obviously they have long lists of email addresses and they just use a random addresses spoofed as the sender.

True, you can get spoofed, but it's rare nowadays.  Most e-mail systems can detect spoofing and report it as junk.

The majority of times, it will be that your account has been compromised.  You can often check this by looking in your sent items or drafts.  If there's something in there that's not from you, usually addressed to everyone (or a random person) in your inbox, then it's not spoofing.

It doesn't even have to come from an e-mail - there's a lot of Phishing on sites such as Facebook, where they'll either take your Facebook or e-mail login credentials - or both!

[BarriedaleNick]

I disagree that spoofing is rare - true that SPF and spoof detection has improved but not to the extent of winning the war and not everyone uses SPF..


Quote from google - Because these messages originate outside of Gmail, we aren't able to stop spammers from spoofing your address.
Quote from Melissa Siems, senior director of product and solutions marketing for McAfee Cloud & Content Security adds: "Most accounts are more likely to be spoofed than compromised, particularly if the owner isn't using the account.

https://www.countryipblocks.net/the-cheap-way-to-keep-spoofed-email-out-of-your-inbox - "Country IP Blocks estimates that spoofing may account for more than 80% of all spam and malicious email traffic" - not sure of date here though so it could be out of date ..

I see spoofed mail all the time, rarely when I look at spam have the accounts been compromised. 

I can't seem to find any actualy stats that I can rely on so I would be happy to be proved wrong!!

[retro]

I'm certainly not saying spoofing doesn't happen, but in my experience, it's much less frequent than tends to be made out.  To be honest, I wouldn't put it past the big boys using such a phrase as a passing the buck technique!

We have a vast number of customers come in saying they have a virus and they turn out to be clean - it's just their e-mail password needs changing.

In my experience, phishing is far more prevalent.  You see the results all the time - friends sending you messages on Facebook or via e-mail that are obviously spam.

Here's Microsoft's guide to phishing, for those who may not understand it:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/online-privacy/phishing-symptoms.aspx

If you're sensible with what you do online and who gets your e-mail address, spoofing is unlikely.  Yes, it happens, but it's not amazingly common nowadays.  If you seem to be sending e-mails you didn't write, your best resolution is to log into your e-mail on a clean computer and change the password.  If it continues then yes, you may have been spoofed - and there's not a lot you can do about it!  However, of the thousands of PCs that we repair every year, I haven't seen many cases of spoofing for quite a while  :)