Mtiggray wrote:
> Hope this will be useful for you http:// ........ I really
> enjoyed!
Rick & Lucky Lucy wrote:
> My computer protection says this is a virus and was blocked. Beware!
A bad message from "Mtiggray" was also posted on vpFREE.
I've deleted the messages and "Mtiggray" is now moderated.
Some general info on highjacked accounts is appended.
vpFREE Administrator
__________________________________________________
Virus/Highjacking Info
If your email account has been highjacked or your
computer has a virus:
I'm not an expert on virus type situations and don't know
all of the technical details, but here's what I've picked up
about this problem and believe to be accurate.
The most likely explanation (although there are others) is:
You once clicked on a link to a bad / infected website
(there are thousands of them around) and while you were
there the site used the connection to either infect your
computer and give you a virus and / or it copied a lot of
your files, including your address book, password info etc..
This is called "highjacking" your computer.
If you got / have a virus, the virus could have sent emails
(and continue sending them until you got rid of the virus)
to people in your address book from your computer and / or
it could have sent them from another computer with your
email address (this is called phishing).
If you didn't get, and don't have a virus, then your files
were just highjacked (and someone has, and can use them) and
all of the bad emails were sent from another computer.
Any computer can send emails to any email address and make
it appear that it came from any email address that it wants
to use. The detailed header info that goes with an email
would be different than an email coming from you, but most
people wouldn't be able to tell that it was bogus. If I had
your address book, I could send an email from my computer to
all of your addresses and make it appear that it came from
any address that I liked, for as long as I like. This is
easily done and would only take me a minute or so to set up.
They can continue sending these emails to your address list
for as long as they like and there's nothing you can do to
stop them. However, I believe that they usually only do it
once or twice and eventually get tired of playing with your
list and move on to others.
What I would do if I were you:
Don't visit unknown web sites or open unknown email
attachments in the future.
Get rid of any virus that you may have and use a real time
virus protection program in the future. I use "Microsoft
Security Essentials" which is free software that I like
better than most pay ones that I've used:
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Download, install and run the "Malwarebytes" free software
weekly: http://www.malwarebytes.org/
You probably should discard any email address you've been
using and get a new one(s).
Change all passwords at all places where you have to log in
to get access.
Password protect your computer if it isn't already.
Don't use an email address that has been highjacked as your
address of record on any mailing lists or any site that
requires you to log in.
