Check it out...Followhere...Playbingo...How to get rid of this!!

Hi there,

I have been receiving emails "Check it out" with a link to followhere.com
and a Bingo site. And to my horror, now I am also sending these to people on
my contact list!

I am sure this is not new to most of you. Kindly advise, i need to stop this.

Thank you in advance!!

Malke
Sun Apr 02 12:06:29 CDT 2006

Evelyn wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> I have been receiving emails "Check it out" with a link to
> followhere.com and a Bingo site. And to my horror, now I am also
> sending these to people on my contact list!
>
> I am sure this is not new to most of you. Kindly advise, i need to
> stop this.
>
> Thank you in advance!!

Receiving emails like that can mean only that someone you know who has
your email address on his/her computer is infected. Sending emails like
that means that *your* computer is infected. Follow these virus/malware
removal steps systematically:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"

Evelyn
Sun Apr 02 15:18:03 CDT 2006

Thanks for your reply. My Norton did not pick anything up. I also swept my c
drive twice and found no infected files. Would your malware detect infections
not on the Norton database?

Thanks

"Malke" wrote:

> Evelyn wrote:
>
> > Hi there,
> >
> > I have been receiving emails "Check it out" with a link to
> > followhere.com and a Bingo site. And to my horror, now I am also
> > sending these to people on my contact list!
> >
> > I am sure this is not new to most of you. Kindly advise, i need to
> > stop this.
> >
> > Thank you in advance!!
>
> Receiving emails like that can mean only that someone you know who has
> your email address on his/her computer is infected. Sending emails like
> that means that *your* computer is infected. Follow these virus/malware
> removal steps systematically:
>
> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic"
>

Malke
Sun Apr 02 15:27:16 CDT 2006

Evelyn wrote:

> Thanks for your reply. My Norton did not pick anything up. I also
> swept my c drive twice and found no infected files. Would your malware
> detect infections not on the Norton database?

Norton is an antivirus. It looks for viruses. It will not deal with
non-viral malware. Hence the need for other programs. No one program
will get everything.

If after thoroughly scanning your system with at least Ad-aware and
Spybot you find nothing wrong, you'll have to examine why you think
your computer is sending spam mails. Since you didn't tell us how you
know that your computer is sending spam mails, I can't guess. Remember
that it is also common for the "From" to be spoofed so if your computer
is really clean and you are receiving bounces, it is possible that the
friend-or-relation's computer that is infected has spoofed the "From"
to show that the emails are from you.

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"

Evelyn
Sun Apr 02 15:45:01 CDT 2006

Thanks!

I know I am sending spam mails because at least 2 people have
forwarded/returned the "check it out invite" back to me. However, it seems
that while I receive spam mails at account A, I am sending spam mails via
account B.

I will try your suggestions and hopefully can find the culprit.



"Malke" wrote:

> Evelyn wrote:
>
> > Thanks for your reply. My Norton did not pick anything up. I also
> > swept my c drive twice and found no infected files. Would your malware
> > detect infections not on the Norton database?
>
> Norton is an antivirus. It looks for viruses. It will not deal with
> non-viral malware. Hence the need for other programs. No one program
> will get everything.
>
> If after thoroughly scanning your system with at least Ad-aware and
> Spybot you find nothing wrong, you'll have to examine why you think
> your computer is sending spam mails. Since you didn't tell us how you
> know that your computer is sending spam mails, I can't guess. Remember
> that it is also common for the "From" to be spoofed so if your computer
> is really clean and you are receiving bounces, it is possible that the
> friend-or-relation's computer that is infected has spoofed the "From"
> to show that the emails are from you.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic"
>

Kerry
Sun Apr 02 16:26:47 CDT 2006

As Malke said it may not be your computer sending out the emails. Whoever
has the virus, and it is a virus because it is self replicating, has your
email address somewere on their computer. The virus is sending email from
that computer with your return address. If you look for the IP address in
the message headers you may be able to tell where it came from. Some viruses
also spoof the IP so that is not always reliable. If you are sure your
computer is clean all you can do is wait until whoever is infected cleans
their computer.

--
Kerry

Evelyn wrote:
> Thanks!
>
> I know I am sending spam mails because at least 2 people have
> forwarded/returned the "check it out invite" back to me. However, it
> seems that while I receive spam mails at account A, I am sending spam
> mails via account B.
>
> I will try your suggestions and hopefully can find the culprit.
>
>
>
> "Malke" wrote:
>
>> Evelyn wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks for your reply. My Norton did not pick anything up. I also
>>> swept my c drive twice and found no infected files. Would your
>>> malware detect infections not on the Norton database?
>>
>> Norton is an antivirus. It looks for viruses. It will not deal with
>> non-viral malware. Hence the need for other programs. No one program
>> will get everything.
>>
>> If after thoroughly scanning your system with at least Ad-aware and
>> Spybot you find nothing wrong, you'll have to examine why you think
>> your computer is sending spam mails. Since you didn't tell us how you
>> know that your computer is sending spam mails, I can't guess.
>> Remember that it is also common for the "From" to be spoofed so if
>> your computer is really clean and you are receiving bounces, it is
>> possible that the friend-or-relation's computer that is infected has
>> spoofed the "From" to show that the emails are from you.
>>
>> Malke
>> --
>> MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
>> Elephant Boy Computers
>> www.elephantboycomputers.com
>> "Don't Panic"

Evelyn
Sun Apr 02 19:40:02 CDT 2006

Thanks! I wil check the IP address then. Following Malke's advice, so far it
looks like my computer is clean.

"Kerry Brown" wrote:

> As Malke said it may not be your computer sending out the emails. Whoever
> has the virus, and it is a virus because it is self replicating, has your
> email address somewere on their computer. The virus is sending email from
> that computer with your return address. If you look for the IP address in
> the message headers you may be able to tell where it came from. Some viruses
> also spoof the IP so that is not always reliable. If you are sure your
> computer is clean all you can do is wait until whoever is infected cleans
> their computer.
>
> --
> Kerry
>
> Evelyn wrote:
> > Thanks!
> >
> > I know I am sending spam mails because at least 2 people have
> > forwarded/returned the "check it out invite" back to me. However, it
> > seems that while I receive spam mails at account A, I am sending spam
> > mails via account B.
> >
> > I will try your suggestions and hopefully can find the culprit.
> >
> >
> >
> > "Malke" wrote:
> >
> >> Evelyn wrote:
> >>
> >>> Thanks for your reply. My Norton did not pick anything up. I also
> >>> swept my c drive twice and found no infected files. Would your
> >>> malware detect infections not on the Norton database?
> >>
> >> Norton is an antivirus. It looks for viruses. It will not deal with
> >> non-viral malware. Hence the need for other programs. No one program
> >> will get everything.
> >>
> >> If after thoroughly scanning your system with at least Ad-aware and
> >> Spybot you find nothing wrong, you'll have to examine why you think
> >> your computer is sending spam mails. Since you didn't tell us how you
> >> know that your computer is sending spam mails, I can't guess.
> >> Remember that it is also common for the "From" to be spoofed so if
> >> your computer is really clean and you are receiving bounces, it is
> >> possible that the friend-or-relation's computer that is infected has
> >> spoofed the "From" to show that the emails are from you.
> >>
> >> Malke
> >> --
> >> MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
> >> Elephant Boy Computers
> >> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> >> "Don't Panic"
>
>
>

Malke
Thu Apr 27 10:29:43 CDT 2006

mrdave wrote:

>
> Evelyn wrote:
>> *Hi there,
>>
>> I have been receiving emails "Check it out" with a link to
>> followhere.com
>> and a Bingo site. And to my horror, now I am also sending these to
>> people on
>> my contact list!
>>
>> I am sure this is not new to most of you. Kindly advise, i need to
>> stop this.
>>
>> Thank you in advance!! *
>
> I just got the same invite. The site does not download software, when
> you sign up, it asked you for your yahoo password.
> If you are DUMB enough to give up your user id and password, you give
> up control of your account. To stop the spam, try changing your
> password.

Unfortunately, it would seem that Evelyn *did* install something or she
would not be sending emails to people on her contact list. Evelyn - you
should now change your email account password and scan for malware. You
can follow these general malware removal steps:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

If the procedures look too complicated - and there is no shame in
admitting that this isn't your cup of tea - take your machine to a
professional computer repair shop (not your local version of
BigStoreUSA) and have them clean it up for you.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Alun
Thu May 11 20:03:06 CDT 2006

Malke wrote:
> Unfortunately, it would seem that Evelyn *did* install something or
> she would not be sending emails to people on her contact list. Evelyn
> - you should now change your email account password and scan for
> malware. You can follow these general malware removal steps:
> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Don't forget the other possibility - that one of Evelyn's friends has been
infected, and the virus has chosen Evelyn's email out of that friend's
address book as the "From" address, while it picks another email for the
"To" address.

To most users, an email that claims it is from someone is indistinguishable
from an email that was really sent from that person.

Evelyn, if your system turns up clean, then you may find that these emails
are coming from someone else - just as in the real world, I can write
someone else's name and address in the top-left corner of envelopes I mail
out, so too you can do this in the electronic world. You can learn about
email headers if you really want to know where the emails are coming from,
and whether it's you that's sending them, or someone else in your name - or
you can post here for help in tracking down these emails.

Alun.
~~~~
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