microsoft security administration

lately i have been getting one message per day from
Microsoft Security Administration announcing the latest
security patch. the messages are all the same. i'm
hesitant to open the attachment for fear of a virus. is
there any way i can tell whether this is legit or not?

They are NOT from Microsoft, as has been mentioned in this newsgroup and
other newsgroups many, many times. Delete them immediately. They could
contain a virus.

By the way, as long as you continue using your real email address in NG
posts, you will continue to be exposed to spam mail, and worse.

"lynn blickenstaff" <kiotee2@cox.net> wrote in message
news:070e01c38ea2$0f4e9440$a101280a@phx.gbl...
> lately i have been getting one message per day from
> Microsoft Security Administration announcing the latest
> security patch. the messages are all the same. i'm
> hesitant to open the attachment for fear of a virus. is
> there any way i can tell whether this is legit or not?

Trust me it is not from microsoft.They will never and
have never sent patches through e-mailing them to
you.Delete the file now,Never open it ever.
>-----Original Message-----
>lately i have been getting one message per day from
>Microsoft Security Administration announcing the latest
>security patch. the messages are all the same. i'm
>hesitant to open the attachment for fear of a virus. is
>there any way i can tell whether this is legit or not?
>.
>

lynn blickenstaff:
Microsoft does not send security updates, patches, fixes, etc. via email.
There are several of these phony MS emails floating around. Delete them. If
the one you received referred to the "September 2003, Cumulative Patch", you
may want to have a look at this link...
http://securityresponse.symantec.co....swen.a@mm.html
randwulf57


"lynn blickenstaff" <kiotee2@cox.net> wrote in message
news:070e01c38ea2$0f4e9440$a101280a@phx.gbl...
> lately i have been getting one message per day from
> Microsoft Security Administration announcing the latest
> security patch. the messages are all the same. i'm
> hesitant to open the attachment for fear of a virus. is
> there any way i can tell whether this is legit or not?

You wrote:
>-----Original Message-----
>lately i have been getting one message per day from
>Microsoft Security Administration announcing the latest
>security patch. the messages are all the same. i'm
>hesitant to open the attachment for fear of a virus. is
>there any way i can tell whether this is legit or not?
>.
>Dear user,
I think someone is pretending to be Microsoft and sending
these, as Norton Antivirus deleted the attachment from
mine, saying it was a Virus.....well, it was bound to
happen someday that someone would send info looking just
like Microsoft...I was going to copy what the Microsoft
screen looked like, below, for you, but there is no edit
function on this screen. The title of the email
was "Microsoft Public Bulletin", and the attachment that
Norton deleted was called "update61exe" and the Virus
that was in it called "w32.Swen.a@mm"..........pretty
crafty of someone, and scary....and I am glad I have
Norton...please install one of the anti-virus packages on
your computer, and never download any update that comes
in email. I always get updates from a little icon at the
bottom of my screen that flashes a message that there is
an update from Microsoft, and these have been safe. Then
I click on the icon, and it allows you to see the details
of the update (I bet you get these, too). Or you can go
to their site and click on available updates, but this
caused a lot of problems in my Windows Explorer since I
have Windows XP 2002, which is not compatible with many
new Microsoft updates, so I do not update using their
site anymore.

"Jean H." <jean@redshift.com> wrote in news:05af01c38eac$8a2b79d0
$a401280a@phx.gbl:

> You wrote:

>I was going to copy what the Microsoft
> screen looked like, below,

That's OK. WE all know what the message looks like and it's not
appropriate to post images to the forum. If you have an image that you
beleive someone must see. Creae a small webpage and post a link to it
there.


> Or you can go
> to their site and click on available updates, but this
> caused a lot of problems in my Windows Explorer since I
> have Windows XP 2002, which is not compatible with many
> new Microsoft updates, so I do not update using their
> site anymore.
>

There is no Windows XP 2002


--

David

"Due to Viewer dicretion...
Graphic violence is advised"

Greetings --

What you received is either a very common malicious hoax or the
output of a computer infected by one of several wide-spread, mass
emailing worms. The most widely-known are:

W32.Swen.A_mm
http://securityresponse.symantec.co....swen.a@mm.html

W32.Dumaru_mm
http://securityresponse.symantec.co....dumaru@mm.html

W32.Gibe_mm
http://securityresponse.symantec.co...32.gibe@mm.html

Microsoft never has, does not currently, and never will email
unsolicited security patches. At the most, if, and only if, you
subscribe to their security notification newsletter, they will send
you an email informing you that a new patch is available for
downloading.

Microsoft Policies on Software Distribution
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...licy/swdist.asp

Information on Bogus Microsoft Security Bulletin Emails
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr.../patch_hoax.asp

How to Tell If a Microsoft Security-Related Message Is Genuine
http://www.microsoft.com/security/a...ticate_mail.asp

Any and all legitimate patches and updates are readily available
at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/. (Notice that this is the true
URL, rather than the bogus one that may have been contained in the
email you received.) Any messages that point to any other source(s) or
claim to have the patch attached are bogus.

You're receiving these emails because your email address is in
the address book of someone infected with a worm, and/or because you
posted your real email address somewhere on-line, either in a forum
accessible to the public and spambots, such as Usenet, or on an
untrustworthy web site that subsequently sold your address as part of
a mailing list. One thing you can do is notify _everyone_ with whom
you've ever corresponded via email that one or more of them may be
infected with a mass emailing worm, and should take the appropriate
steps.

There's probably no way of blocking all of the bogus messages, but
you can greatly reduce the number you get by creating a rule, based
upon the most commonly used subject lines, to delete the emails from
the server without ever downloading them.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH


"lynn blickenstaff" <kiotee2@cox.net> wrote in message
news:070e01c38ea2$0f4e9440$a101280a@phx.gbl...
> lately i have been getting one message per day from
> Microsoft Security Administration announcing the latest
> security patch. the messages are all the same. i'm
> hesitant to open the attachment for fear of a virus. is
> there any way i can tell whether this is legit or not?