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The Radio 3 Boards > General Chat > The Coffee Bar > Computer Panic !!
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Author Topic: Computer Panic !!  (Read 489 times)
Morticia
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« on: 11:51:36, 10-07-2007 »
Help ! I`ve received two e mails from sources that I can`t identify and my feeling is that they are dodgy.  One purports to be from the Customer Service Robot who has `detected abnormal activity in my IP` and recommends installing `this patch` by clicking on. Then I received another e mail from Lugo entitled `Static File`. I have not opened this!

I have Norton installed which seems to do the job perfectly efficiently. Has anyone else received these messages?

A suspicious (or possibly paranoid) Mort
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #1 on: 11:54:18, 10-07-2007 »
Mort, just a few days back (was it in the GRRRRR Room?) Milly had a similar worry and hh made a suggestion. Let me see if I can find it for you...
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #2 on: 11:58:55, 10-07-2007 »
GRR 2339 and subsequent, Mort. Hope that helps!

Ron XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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time_is_now
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« Reply #3 on: 12:14:36, 10-07-2007 »
Mort

These do sound like genuine attempts at infecting your computer, rather than the Yahoo PHP showing problem that Milly had the other day. HOWEVER, don't worry too much! You won't get infected simply by opening the email, as long as you don't open any attachments. Just delete the messages, there's no need for special action.

Norton will help stop you picking up viruses over the internet but it can't stop people sending you emails. Your spam filter can help with that but it's not really necessary since, as I say, the only important thing is never to open an attachment to an email you're not sure about.

It's quite normal to get such emails from time to time, and it doesn't mean your system's less secure than it should be. Spammers just google for email addresses or make up likely ones, and they can send to so many at the same time that they're bound to hit a few targets. But they rely on you going further than merely opening the email; otherwise they can't harm you.
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Janthefan
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« Reply #4 on: 12:20:19, 10-07-2007 »
Mort,
We've had a warning round at work about not opening anything that has a patch....so your instincts are probably right.
It's bad enough that you have a virus, you dont want one in your PC !
x Jan x
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Morticia
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« Reply #5 on: 12:36:10, 10-07-2007 »
Thanks for that chaps. The offending mails have now been terminated with extreme prejudice! Grin
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martle
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« Reply #6 on: 12:42:40, 10-07-2007 »
Mort, you're lucky you don't get more! I get at least a couple a day like that on my private account, and up to 10 a day at work (and that's just the ones that make it past the spam filters). It's become routine now to delete them without even opening them.  Wink
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John W
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« Reply #7 on: 13:20:50, 10-07-2007 »
Reminds me of episode here last week.

Daughter: Dad, we saw you ordered Viagra on the internet!

Me: eh? Oh we get e-mails about that all the time

Missus: Yes John, but Tina saw your little notes on a post-it

Me: eh? (need to sound convincing) yes I make lists of sex words for the anti-spam program.

Daughter: yeah right!

I then had to convince them by showing them an E-mail Routeing screen on the PC with every conceivable sex word and spelling-variant on it, the program rejects mail with any of those words in the subject header. That shocked them  Grin

We found the post-it, it had scribbled on it the words pills, sexual, viagra and variants vi4gra and viagr4  Cheesy

My spam-basher rejects about 20 mails a day. It includes words like Halifax and Barclays because we have no accounts with them.
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #8 on: 13:24:15, 10-07-2007 »
I must receive about 50 per day on average in my spam folders.  They offer me all sorts of things that being female I'd never need.  I mostly just empty the bulk folder without even looking at the titles.  I've had loads purporting to be my bank - none of which I've ever done business with.  I did have a look at them the other day and rather worryingly now, they seem to have picked up my real Christian and surnames and use them in the titles sometimes.  They're usually all in pidgin English and make no sense at all.
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John W
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« Reply #9 on: 14:20:20, 10-07-2007 »
Quote from: Milly Jones on 13:24:15, 10-07-2007
I must receive about 50 per day on average in my spam folders  ....... I mostly just empty the bulk folder without even looking at the titles ..... They're usually all in pidgin English and make no sense at all.

Milly,

Make life easier and simpler, see if you have an E-mail Routeing facility like I have and program it to reject all the obvious subject words. It does work. The program will tell me it's rejected 23 e-mails but I never see them, they are not even saved in a trash folder.
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #10 on: 14:30:33, 10-07-2007 »
I don't think I have one of those John.  Can I download it?
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We pass this way but once.  This is not a rehearsal!
John W
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« Reply #11 on: 20:15:25, 10-07-2008 »
Milly,

You asked me the above question 1 YEAR AGO. How rude of me not to respond sooner.

Most e-mail programs have an E-mail Routeing facility, I haven't used Outlook for years so I can't remember where to find it there, but my Turnpike program has it (with folders accessed) at

Configure > E-mail routeing > Mail rejection

and in the screen you list things like

Reject all subjects matching 'valium'
Reject all subjects matching  'pharmacy'
and include all the spelling variations or more dodgy words

also command like

Reject all mail from 'makefriends@LordByron.com'
Reject all mail from 'hownottomakefriends@ipace.com'

and stuff like that  Cheesy
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brassbandmaestro
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« Reply #12 on: 11:19:38, 11-07-2008 »
My system must be pretty good, whichever one it is, as I dont seem to get any of those, thankfully!!
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Turfan Fragment
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« Reply #13 on: 15:19:03, 11-07-2008 »
I don't receive much spam, but then I send even less.
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John W
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« Reply #14 on: 16:45:04, 11-07-2008 »
Quote from: brassbandmaestro on 11:19:38, 11-07-2008
My system must be pretty good, whichever one it is, as I dont seem to get any of those, thankfully!!

I expect my ISP has improved their end of things, they did say so a while back. The problem I have is my e-mail address(es) is displayed on hobby and business websites. Even webpages where I offer a form instead of my e-mail address for contact, e.g. remember the quizzes, somehow get found by automatic spammers who fill in all the fields of the forms with their garbage.

I don't use my btinternet address, but it is active (so that I receive stuff from BT) and mail sent to it is routed to my ISP POP. So, I don't use that address yet I'm now getting spam addressed to it about bogus stocks and shares (I don't have any stocks or shares by the way).



John
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