Strange outgoing e-mail

[jay]

I’m using Outlook 2007 in a Windows XP Pro environment. Recently I found two
e-mails in my outbox which I did not initiate. Both were to companies
telling them to continue to send me e-mail advertisements. This concerns me
that my Outlook can be programmed by someone else to generate outgoing
messages that I don’t authorize. How can I prevent Outlook 2007 from sending
unauthorized e-mail?

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

I’m using Outlook 2007 in a Windows XP Pro environment. Recently I found two
e-mails in my outbox which I did not initiate. Both were to companies
telling them to continue to send me e-mail advertisements. This concerns me
that my Outlook can be programmed by someone else to generate outgoing
messages that I don’t authorize. How can I prevent Outlook 2007 from sending
unauthorized e-mail?

Scan your system for malware.

Google "malware"

 

[jay]

I'm running Zone Alarm Internet Suite, Windows Defender, and Spybot Searth
and Destroy. No problems were found by any program.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

I'm running Zone Alarm Internet Suite, Windows Defender, and Spybot Searth
and Destroy. No problems were found by any program.

Welp, Outlook doesn't send email on its own.

 

[jay]

That is a major answer for me. With the evolution of software I was not sure
that Outlook had not emplemented a feature to allow for automatic responses
to make "life easier" for users. If not, then the probleim must be due to
other software. Since I'm not picking up the maleware on my various scans, I
may need to search a different way. Do you have any suggestions on finding
this malicious software?

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

That is a major answer for me. With the evolution of software I was not sure
that Outlook had not emplemented a feature to allow for automatic responses
to make "life easier" for users. If not, then the probleim must be due to
other software. Since I'm not picking up the maleware on my various scans, I
may need to search a different way. Do you have any suggestions on finding
this malicious software?

If something on your computer was doing that, it should have been
picked up by S&D.

Still, it's best in most cases to have more than one malware detector.

Pickup the free versions of Ad-Aware and Spyware Blaster.

If Zone Alarm hasn't changed that much, you can configure outgoing
email parameters, but if your email address is being spoofed, then the
only protection would be to have it alert you when an email is being
sent to more than one address.

 

[jay]

Thanks!

If something on your computer was doing that, it should have been
picked up by S&D.

Still, it's best in most cases to have more than one malware detector.

Pickup the free versions of Ad-Aware and Spyware Blaster.

If Zone Alarm hasn't changed that much, you can configure outgoing
email parameters, but if your email address is being spoofed, then the
only protection would be to have it alert you when an email is being
sent to more than one address.

 

[jay]

It happened again and I paid attention to what was going on. My home
computer generated an e-mail to FedEx Tracking in my name. ZoneAlarm junk
mail filter sent the message to ZoneAlarm Challenge where it was retained and
not sent out. I looked over the e-mail and there appears to be nothing
special about it. But I can't seem to determine what generated it. I must
down load o ther suggested search software.