Help! I've become a Zombie!

frogman_2

Well, not me but my PC has become a Zombie...

I have Win XP Home SP2 and use Outlook Express for my email (I know...just don't ask why) and for the last 3 days, I keep getting "failure notices" where mail messages supposedly coming from my machine have not been delivered. I have gotten two replies from people asking me who am I and why am I sending SPAM!

I have done numerous virus checks with AVG and Hitman Pro but to no avail...can anyone recommend an effective tool for purging my PC? Can anyone recommend the next course of action?

BTW, I think this happened because I set up OE to read some BT Yahoo newsgroups (to try and help me with another problem...).

Any help would be gratefully appreciated!

albertross_2

It could be someone else who has your email address on their PC, who has been infected, the emails may be spoofed, but you can use these links to check.. Have you posted your email address in any of the newsgroups?

http://safety.live.com/site/en-gb/default.htm

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=133269

frogman_2

That's very true...I hadn't thought of that!

I'll do another system check with the MS Live site but I have my suspicions as to who it may be...

:A

sandroad

Any reason you are not using Thunderbird as your mail client?

superscaper

It'll almost certainly be someone just using your email address as their return address. Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about it.

frogman_2

Have you posted your email address in any of the newsgroups?

No, I hadn't posted in the newsgroups and the originating messages do not come from my email address but some variant of my email address eg. xyz@mydomain.com

Any reason you are not using Thunderbird as your mail client?

I had used TBird as my mail client during late 2004-late 2005 and was a huge fan. Trouble is that I'm self-employed and rely on my email to keep in touch with my clients and prospective clients...TBird let me down twice - each time when the clocks changed. I wasted 3 days each time trying to sort out my inbox and folders and it was very frustrating. I know that a few other people were effected but it is not a huge issue and was not a priority issue for the developers. I must admit that I have a new notebook since then and should give it a try but had been thinking of migrating to Outlook...:eek:

Thanks for all your help and suggestions!

superscaper

frogman wrote:

No, I hadn't posted in the newsgroups and the originating messages do not come from my email address but some variant of my email address eg. xyz@mydomain.com

I've seen that happen quite a bit, especially with one of my mum's domains. Again nothing you can do about it because the spammers haven't actually got your email address from anywhere as they're addresses they've essentially made up.

frogman_2

Looks like it as all the scans have come up empty...someone on another board reckons that the bounced messages are spam messages in themselves and tail off after a while...I certainly hope so!

BillScarab

Do you have your own domain name? If you do then normally they are set up so that all mail for your soamin name comes to your inbox regardless of what is to the left of the @ sign. You can change this so that only mails that match your actual email address(es) come through. This should cut it down a fair bit.

You usually need to go to the website of the company that administers your domain name to do it, there shoudl be some sort of control panel where you can set it up.

This site has some good tips and advice although it's not the easisest to navigate

http://www.spamhelp.co.uk/

frogman_2

Thanks, BillScarab, but I have it setup to receive all messages because people tend to mis-spell my address and I can't afford to miss a possible business message.

I'm going to migrate to Outlook, stop using the preview pane and use Mailwasher. That may help...

Benjie_2

BillScarab wrote:

Do you have your own domain name? If you do then normally they are set up so that all mail for your soamin name comes to your inbox regardless of what is to the left of the @ sign. You can change this so that only mails that match your actual email address(es) come through. This should cut it down a fair bit.

You usually need to go to the website of the company that administers your domain name to do it, there shoudl be some sort of control panel where you can set it up.

This site has some good tips and advice although it's not the easisest to navigate

http://www.spamhelp.co.uk/

Boy dont i know about that one, checking the mail box on my domain is hilarious!Wont link to it as this is my first post after a long time lurking, but will just say it starts with zxcvbnm....