Has my computer been hijacked?

[Bob]

I am suddenly receiving huge numbers of e-mails including a large number of
"delivery failure" e-mails with attachments (which I am not opening). They
appear to be links to my internet service provider presumably with
information re: the delivery failure.

To me it appears that my e-mail address is being used as a forwarder of
spam.

What do I do to stop this? Prevent it in the future?

I regularly (about every two weeks) download the latest virus definitions
and scan my entire system . . . and come up with nothing.

Help!

 

[D.Currie]

I am suddenly receiving huge numbers of e-mails including a large number of
"delivery failure" e-mails with attachments (which I am not opening). They
appear to be links to my internet service provider presumably with
information re: the delivery failure.

Generally, those are viruses. You're wise not to open them.

To me it appears that my e-mail address is being used as a forwarder of
spam.

Not really. Someone who has your name in their address book has a virus. The
undelived message email is just supposd to entice you to open it and see
what didn't get delivered, and then you'd have the virus.

What do I do to stop this? Prevent it in the future?

Not much you can do, since you probably have no idea who has your email
address. One thing you can do, though, is don't post your real email address
on newsgroups. It's a sure was to start accuulating both spam and virus
email.

I regularly (about every two weeks) download the latest virus definitions
and scan my entire system . . . and come up with nothing.

Help!

Every two weeks is not nearly enough. Viruses spread so fast now that
they're in wide circulation on the first day they're released. If you aren't
updated your antivirus software daily, you're at risk for new viruses as
they appear.

 

[Guest]

I am having the same problem. 10 a day or so, I have also been getting them from symatec (Norton) that they are sending me a virus up date. What has someone done to the e-mail system
Berg

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I am having the same problem. 10 a day or so, I have also been
getting them from symatec (Norton) that they are sending me a virus
up date. What has someone done to the e-mail system? Berg

Take the advice that has worked for most other spyware/adware/hijackers:

You may have spyware/adware infesting your machine, follow the
appropriate section for that, making sure you use at least
THREE of the tools I list to scan and clean your machine AFTER
updating them. Cleaning up spyware/adware/malware usually
solves home page hijackers as well.


Make sure you have all the updates (critical) installed from:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
(Scan for updates, Review and Install)


Get rid of the spy/ad/mal-ware..
(Yes - using MORE than one of these..
I recommend at least the first three. Also..
UPDATE the definitions for them before using.)

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.net/

Lavasoft AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de

CWSShredder
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

Hijack This!
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/

I also like "The Cleaner" and "SpywareBlaster" and "SpywareGuard".
- http://www.moosoft.com/
- http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/

The first is a PAY product, but useable for 30 days - it has found and
eliminated problems in the past the others did not. The latter two are
prevention mechanisms. I like SpywareGuard for those with enough processor
to have something running like antivirus software - and it prevents browser
hijacking quite well. SpywareBlaster is a FANTASTIC free product, I suggest
getting this after you cleanup and keeping it updated as well....

And Assortment of Others:
http://spywareinfo.com/

Once clean, please IMMUNIZE using Spybot Search and Destroy and
SpywareBlaster.


Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to about
80 to 120MB (seems to be an optimal size for the normal user)

- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section,
do the following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the
"Amount of disk space to use:" to something between 80MB
and 120MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to
"Delete all offline contents" (the checkbox) and click
OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes or
more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer
- Re-open Internet Explorer.


Uninstall any software you do not use often/ever. (If you have something
installed but never use it, uninstall it.) If you go through Control
Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and see things you seldom if ever use, it is to
your advantage to remove it.


Also, if you are tired of Web Page Pop-Ups/Unders.. You could try the
Google Toolbar.
http://toolbar.google.com/


Stop loading applications at logon.. run MSCONFIG and look under the startup
tab for things you DON'T want to startup! Search the Internet with Google
to discover what things are safe to remove and what things may even be
malware infecting your computer.


Better control your email and lessen the amount of time you spend dealing
with SPAM:
SpamBayes
http://sourceforge.net/projects/spambayes/
or
Spamihilator.
http://www.spamihilator.com


Hope that helps...