Outlook07 auto-generating "Not read:" replies regardless of RR set

[Toby Simmons]

I have read-receipts disabled but Outlook is generating "Not read:" replies
for my IMAP accounts when a message it has downloaded (but not read) gets
deleted from the server from another client (say, webmail.)

I have been studying this for several days because I just recently got hit
with 20 DSNs for spam generated by my Outlook client. I have verified this
behavior like this:

Generate a message in Outlook to myself and click on the Options tab, then
click "Request a Read Receipt" and send it. When it arrives (make sure it is
fully downloaded but not read) quit Outlook. Login to your account using a
different client, webmail, Thunderbird, whatever, and delete this message.
The next time you launch Outlook and it syncs your IMAP account, it will
generate a "Not read:" receipt REGARDLESS of your mail tracking setting.

There are several posts on the Internet about this:

http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/sh...tid=4038094&sb=0&d=1&at=7&ft=11&tf=0&pageid=1
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-3632636-1.ph
http://forums.techguy.org/general-security/753746-outlook-2007-sending-spam-4.html
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic173074.html
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic175946.html

This has been used by spammers to send spam and seems to be getting more and
more prevalent. It affects Outlook 2003 and Office 2007.

So, how do I turn this off? (For now, since I run our mail server, I have
disabled all messages with a subject line starting with "Not read:") but I
don't have control over every mail server I use.

Thanks &
Cheers,

Toby

 

[Toby Simmons]

Wow. The silence is deafening.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I have read-receipts disabled but Outlook is generating "Not read:" replies
for my IMAP accounts when a message it has downloaded (but not read) gets
deleted from the server from another client (say, webmail.) ....snip...
So, how do I turn this off? (For now, since I run our mail server, I have
disabled all messages with a subject line starting with "Not read:") but I
don't have control over every mail server I use.

You can't right now. Microsoft is aware of the problem.

 

[sDenn]

You can't right now.  Microsoft is aware of the problem.

I have the same response problem, and its not new! How time it can
take to resolve this? This problem violates my privacy, because it
send mails from my email with my Name!

I will not use Outlook, changing to other programs.

 

[Toby Simmons]

You can't right now. Microsoft is aware of the problem.

Thanks for the reply, Brian. Is it true they have been aware of it since
2007 (as some posts on the Internet seem to indicate ...)

I'm getting more and more of these bounce messages (since I can force my
mail server to reject messages with "Not read:" in the subject line) so it
seems this is on the rise.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Thanks for the reply, Brian. Is it true they have been aware of it since
2007 (as some posts on the Internet seem to indicate ...)

I really don't know when they became aware of it.