Author	[Modern View]
Stan in Oly, WA 01-31-2013 10:31:03 174.31.205.75 Report to Moderator	Since the beginning of January I have received e-mails from several people who I happen to know do not know each other well or communicate with each other by e-mail. These e-mails have no greeting or message except to say something like "hey, check this out" followed by a clickable link. The first of these e-mails was from someone I had been e-mailing regularly at the time. It wasn't normal for him to send me an e-mail with no message but it didn't seem unreasonable to think he might have sent it. I opened the link which was an ad for some sort of work-from-home type of scam. I informed him that his e-mail account seemed to have been hacked. I didn't open any more e-mails from him, but the damage was probably already done by then. If my computer is infected, (or my e-mail account has been hacked,if that's not the same thing), how do I go about taking care of it? Thanks, Stan [Reply]   [No Email]
greygoat 02-02-2013 14:33:16 98.125.96.56 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   I have run "Malwarebytes', the free version, and it says my computer is clean,"no problems found"! THEN, I run "Microsoft Security Essentials", and it finds stuff! My local computer shop says Free Malwarebytes is worthless. I've taken it off! [Reply]  [No Email]
Stan in Oly, WA 02-01-2013 12:08:31 174.31.205.75 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   Thanks everyone for the very useful information and suggestions. Stan [Reply]  [No Email]
old_bc 01-31-2013 20:54:49 72.161.165.161 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   Download Malwarebytes Antimalware and run it. It is the best for removing things after your computer is infected. I always delete emails with nothing but a link. I never click on the link. [Reply]  [No Email]
MarkB_MI 01-31-2013 17:42:15 75.219.27.75 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   When you get a suspicious email, it's a good idea to examine the mail headers. How you do this depends on your email client, but pretty much all of them have a way to display the headers. You can figure out where the email really came from, even if the headers have been obfuscated. There's lots of information on this online, google "read email headers". [Reply]  [No Email]
Diydave 01-31-2013 15:50:49 96.244.162.208 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   Don't open it, send it to the IRS, unopened! [Reply]  [No Email]
Puddles 01-31-2013 14:13:21 24.113.77.208 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   Dump windows and go with Linux for your operating system. I haven't used an anti virus for 3-years now. :wink: [Reply]  [No Email]
Duner Wi 01-31-2013 17:46:18 216.226.80.242 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Puddles, 01-31-2013 14:13:21   Which Linux OS do you like?? I have Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on 2 computers and it works for me but I am pretty new to it so have a bit of learning to do regarding "open office" etc. [Reply]  [No Email]
Puddles 01-31-2013 17:53:52 24.113.77.208 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Duner Wi, 01-31-2013 17:46:18   I use Linux Mint. My computer guy set my computer up on a dual boot up system. It goes to Linux by default, or I can select windows. He split my hard drive, where the majority is for windows. Far as I can tell it's pretty much the same as windows, except it's not very popular so these jerks don't write viruses for Linux. [Reply]  [No Email]
Duner Wi 01-31-2013 20:11:18 216.226.80.242 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Puddles, 01-31-2013 17:53:52   Got it , thank you very much. Mine works like yours except different OS. [Reply]  [No Email]
Stan in Oly, WA 01-31-2013 15:57:21 174.31.205.75 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Puddles, 01-31-2013 14:13:21   But I don't speak Finnish. [Reply]  [No Email]
Puddles 01-31-2013 16:05:40 24.113.77.208 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 15:57:21   Does this look Finnish to you? :lol: [Reply]  [No Email]
farmer boy 01-31-2013 13:37:36 199.167.109.42 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   I think these emails are less about a virus and more about the ad. Run every anti-virus program you have, and after you have been running the computer like normal for an hour, hit control-alt-delete and click the 'Processes" tab at the top. Do a google search for each image name and see if they should be running. Next go to 'Set program access and defaults' and click 'Change or Remove Programs' Let it oad and take a look through that and look for anything that you don't recgonize. Do a google search on that program and see what it is. If it's bad, or you don't need it, get rid of it. This is by far the best way to get rid of programs. Last go to the start menu and click 'Run' and type msconfig.exe into it. Click on the upper tap that says 'startup' Look in that list for any programs that shouldn't be starting up or that you don't recgonize. Supposedely you can prevent them from starting up, but I've never had any luck doing that. If something bad shows up on that list, then you may as well take it into a shop to get fixed. It could be a big deal if you bank or buy online. This is all for Windows XP. [Reply]  [No Email]
tractormiallis 01-31-2013 13:10:17 216.18.244.12 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   YES YES I had that exact thing happen to me 2 days ago. A friend received the email, opened it, and her account was spammed which in turn sent one to me. I unknowingly opened it and my contacts were spammed. I have ran Ccleaner, malwarebytes, AVG, and found nothing. In my sent emails it sent out just one mass mailing. Thats how i found it, is one email came back undeliverable. Oh, it was the work at home deal also. [Reply]  [No Email]
tech4 01-31-2013 12:56:03 72.15.69.60 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   Those scams usually affect yahoo web mail or one of the isp"s that use a version of yahoo mail. If you use yahoo or some version - change your password right now. Most of the anti virus will not stop or find this bug. Malwarebytes usually does not find it either. I would clean my internet cache and change password. That worked for me. [Reply]  [No Email]
steve_in_mo 01-31-2013 12:21:53 168.166.54.11 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   That message does not necessarily mean your computer has been compromised. Those scammers buy and trade lists of email accounts, and their software sends messages that look like they come from someone's account. There is a big underground market in that sort of thing. [Reply]  [No Email]
Dale S 01-31-2013 12:01:54 12.107.213.27 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   I agree about Microsoft Essentials It's free and better than the store bought anti-virus programs [Reply]  [No Email]
Greenday 01-31-2013 11:51:23 204.185.166.101 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   if you are running windows then go to there website and download Windows security essentials. It is free and trusted and it cleaned off a bad virus on my computer [Reply]  [No Email]
Dave Sherburne NY 01-31-2013 11:20:50 50.48.48.197 Report to Moderator	Re: OT: How to deal with a possibly infected computer in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 01-31-2013 10:31:03   I have gotten quite a few of those in the last few days. One from my SIL I clicked on reply, sent it back to her and asked if she sent it. She said no and I told her that her Email had been Hijacked and she should change her password. I don't think my Email was hacked but I change the password every couple of months anyway. I run my Virus detector once a week and it finds nothing and I run MALWAREBYTES ANTI MALWARE if the computer acts strange. [Reply]  [No Email]