Mass Mailer

[fatuous participant]

Yeah. I seem to have a mass mailer- I get about a hundred returned emails a
day that I never personally send. Some agent is using my email address to
mass mail spam. Downloaded and ran McAfee Virus Scan specifically to get rid
of this bug- VS detected several viruses, which I quarantined and deleted.
The virus is still actively mass mailing, but VS pronounces my system clean
when I run it. Tried to run a free online Semantec virus detection program,
but couldn't get past the goddamned required ActiveX download- this download
continued running endlessly w/o apparently downloading anything. Getting rid
of viruses seems to be more complicated than just deleting them after
running a virus scan- something about doing stuff in 'safe mode'. Did I
screw up by immediately deleting the several viruses that VS found when I
ran this program intitially? How the hell do I get rid of it? This problem
is like an itch I can't get at- it's driving me nuts. My wife is starting to
give me these furrowed brow looks....

 

[Juergen Nieveler]

Yeah. I seem to have a mass mailer- I get about a hundred returned
emails a day that I never personally send.

You don't know wether those mails actually were sent from your machine -
the From-header in emails is easily forged.

Juergen Nieveler

 

[NormanM]

Yeah. I seem to have a mass mailer- I get about a hundred returned emails a
day that I never personally send. Some agent is using my email address to
mass mail spam.

While they are using your email address, you don't know that they are using
your computer. They could easily use your email address and some other
computer.

Downloaded and ran McAfee Virus Scan specifically to get rid
of this bug- VS detected several viruses, which I quarantined and deleted.

Which is a good thing, but may not be the cause of your returns.

The virus is still actively mass mailing, but VS pronounces my system clean
when I run it.

Do you see any other sign of the activity; than the returned email, that is?

Tried to run a free online Semantec virus detection program,
but couldn't get past the goddamned required ActiveX download- this download
continued running endlessly w/o apparently downloading anything.

Why not get a virus scanner that runs from your local disk?

Getting rid of viruses seems to be more complicated than just deleting
them after running a virus scan- something about doing stuff in 'safe mode'.

That depends on the virus. Most seem easy enough to clean up, though; not
like a browser hijacker.

Did I screw up by immediately deleting the several viruses that VS found when
I ran this program intitially? How the hell do I get rid of it?

Probably not.

This problem is like an itch I can't get at- it's driving me nuts.
My wife is starting to give me these furrowed brow looks....

You really need to understand the source of those returns. If the only
evidence you are going on for your system being infected is mail system
delivery failure notices, you may be chasing phantoms, not viruses.

 

[Steve]

Yeah. I seem to have a mass mailer- I get about a hundred returned
emails a day that I never personally send. Some agent is using my
email address to mass mail spam. Downloaded and ran McAfee Virus Scan
specifically to get rid of this bug- VS detected several viruses,
which I quarantined and deleted. The virus is still actively mass
mailing, but VS pronounces my system clean when I run it. Tried to
run a free online Semantec virus detection program, but couldn't get
past the goddamned required ActiveX download- this download continued
running endlessly w/o apparently downloading anything. Getting rid of
viruses seems to be more complicated than just deleting them after
running a virus scan- something about doing stuff in 'safe mode'. Did
I screw up by immediately deleting the several viruses that VS found
when I ran this program intitially? How the hell do I get rid of it?
This problem is like an itch I can't get at- it's driving me nuts. My
wife is starting to give me these furrowed brow looks....

fatuous:

Get a free firewall program such as ZoneAlarm or Sygate. If you have a
virus that is sending emails out from your PC, the firewall will catch it.
OTOH, the emails may be originating from another PC and your address may be
forged in the header.

Steve