Question for Jack Stoner

[John Hawkins]

Jack I had two things happen recently that I don't understand . I hope you will have run into this in the past and give me some advise on what went on. I opened up Outlook Express 5 and there was an advertisment already there that I had really no interest in but took a look anyway -- there was no attachment -- when I clicked on the mail envelope to open it all He*# broke loose . the size of the type went to bold , the "contact" section changed all around and a box came up and read to the effect, that the sender was not using html or something like that . Tons of the little icons with the "blue world " on them ( internet explorer)shot completely across the bottom bar from the " Start" button right . They completely filled up the bar left to right . I had that same thing happen to me again two or three days ago . The only thing I noticed on both the adds was that their
address had a four digit number contained in the address . I was not able to close either by normal method and had to boot to restore
everything back to normal . I'm mostly lost on these computers anyway but I had no clue
as to the cause of these two things happening.

Could you give me a solution and a preventive measure for the future?

Thanks much and I appreciate all the help you give us on the forum .

John Hawkins

[Jack Stoner]

I'd suspect you got a "junk mail" advertisement that had some script and when you opened it, it linked to a web page somewhere. I'm only guessing but that's probably what happened.

The only way to avoid crap like that is to not open it, just delete it. It will show up in the preview pane of Outlook so you will have some idea of what it is.

I automatically delete any bulk mail (junk mail) advertisements I get in. You can spot a lot of it pretty fast. However, you have to be on your toes as a lot of it will look like a legitimate e-mail message and have a legitimate looking sender e-mail address and have a subject such as "re your request" or "getting back to you", etc that look like "real" messages.

This sort of goes along with the other thread on here about opening messages that have .exe attachments or Active X crap in them.

You should also keep your e-mail (and browser) software up to date with the latest security enhancements. It will help save you a lot of grief with some of the crap that is being sent today.

[John Hawkins]

Jack,
Many thanks ! You always have good advice and I will be on guard in the future as you suggested . Have a great day and thanks again .

John