Virus question...

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 19 Dec 2002 5:42 am

Just yesterday my 'Junk Mail' folder attached to my 'Hotmail' address started filling up with irate messages. Everyone demanded that I 'remove their address', 'do something about it!', 'stop sending unsolicited mail....', etc., etc.....

What do you think has happened here? One of the correspondants mentioned a virus was a possibility - all I know is that I've e-mailed nobody that I didn't intend to e-mail, and I've certainly never sent out an e-mail to multiple addresses in all the three years that I've had a computer.

Two of the writers mentioned 'rickyone' as being part of the offending message - I have no clue what's happened here! Surely, if this is some sort of 'infection', my whole computer would be affected - yet my 'home' MSN account is fine and acting normally.

I've 'instructed' Hotmail to automatically delete all 'Junk Mail' for now, and that seems to be working, but I wonder what I've inadvertantly started here!

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Roger Rettig

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 19 Dec 2002 8:14 am

Sounds like your address has been "Spoofed".

Read about Spoofing here: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum12/HTML/001034.html

Nothing you can do about it, as it involves someone else's computer. Just protect yourself.[This message was edited by Joey Ace on 19 December 2002 at 08:15 AM.]

Bob Shilling · Post by **Bob Shilling** » 19 Dec 2002 9:10 am

Yes, it sounds like you got "spoofed." Just yesterday I got one of those Klez messages with b0b's email address spoofed on it. The problem is that a lot of ISP's seem to be automatically replying to the sender when their anti-virus detects something. That creates problems for the "spoofee" if it was a spoofed address. Last month the Cowpie list address got spoofed and all of the automated replies were getting sent over the list. A real mess.

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Bob Shilling, Berkeley, CA--MSA S10, "Classic"

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 19 Dec 2002 12:27 pm

'Spoofed', eh? I never heard that word before!

I'm fairly computer-illiterate - I apparently have 'McAfee'; is this usually an effective measure, or do I need to do something else here?

Thanks...

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 19 Dec 2002 12:38 pm

"Nothing you can do about it, as it involves someone else's computer. "

(sux, don't it...)