PaulS said:
I have a worm or virus that has found its way into my
email addresses, then spreads itself by sending emails to
the addresses on my list that have nothing but "Re:" in
the subject line. Which virus is this, and is there an
update that will get rid of it? And secondly, will it
spread by sending a regular email with the same address?
What about other email servers; if I send an email from
the infected computer, but use an alternate name with a
different enail provider, will that put other computers
at risk?
Updates typically won't get rid of viruses.
AV software does that.
Install some AV software and keep it updated.
It will identify the virus, and remove it if possible.
Some AV is free for personal use, for example:
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php
Google on "free AV" for others.
You can do an on-line virus scan some places too:
http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_frame.asp
This can be slow on dial-up.
After you get the virus cleaned up, you need to take
some steps to prevent recurrence.
Protect Your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx
1) Always run a firewall on your Internet connection.
Go to the Network Connections folder;
Right-click your Internet connection | Properties | Advanced tab;
Enable the option "Protect my computer and network..."
2) Set up your machine for Automatic Updates.
3) Get an AV program installed, and keep it updated.
Also, you need to be careful not to run unexpected mail attachmnets,
even from people you know. Are you *sure* it really came from them?
How do you know?
Expect some explanatory text in the mail body that could only come from the
sender.
Like "Hey, Ron. Here's the spreadsheet with the IP address assignments we
talked about last week."
Well, *did* you discuss IP address assignments with this guy last week?
And did he say he'd send a spreadsheet?
If so, it seems OK and then I'd accept this attachment.
Beware generic " here's the file you wanted" or "very funny, click this" ,
they are
almost cetainly virus attachments.
