In case anyone else gets this...

I've just had a message purporting to come from my ISP (Virgin.net),
saying that a lot of spam has been coming from my e-mail address, and
suggesting that my computer had become infected by a trojan, and that
I should follow the instructions in the attachment.

This surprised me a little, as I have efficient and reputable
anti-virus etc. software. When I downloaded the message (I read it
first through Mailwasher), my a-v software detected a virus in the
attachment and deleted it.

So the whole thing was a hoax and a means of spreading its own virus.
You have been warned!

BTW, it says on Virgin's website that they never send attachments to
e-mails.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
In case anyone else gets this...

I've just had a message purporting to come from my ISP (Virgin.net),
saying that a lot of spam has been coming from my e-mail address, and
suggesting that my computer had become infected by a trojan, and that
I should follow the instructions in the attachment.



I would have read no further and deleted it. I certainly wouldn't have
attempted to open the attachment, not even through all the washing machines
in the world. How blatant can it get?

Steve

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 18:35:19 +0100, Chris Hogg wrote:

In case anyone else gets this...

I've just had a message purporting to come from my ISP (Virgin.net),
saying that a lot of spam has been coming from my e-mail address, and
suggesting that my computer had become infected by a trojan, and that
I should follow the instructions in the attachment.

This surprised me a little, as I have efficient and reputable
anti-virus etc. software. When I downloaded the message (I read it
first through Mailwasher), my a-v software detected a virus in the
attachment and deleted it.

So the whole thing was a hoax and a means of spreading its own virus.
You have been warned!

BTW, it says on Virgin's website that they never send attachments to
e-mails.

Chris, I had a suspicious email appearing to be from virgin.net (my
isp) a few days ago. I had recently installed Avast, a free antivirus
program (on top of two others!) and it seems very efficient. It even
speaks and has picked up a few dubious incoming messages already.
Had it not done so on this I would have assumed it was OK, being from
Virgin. As I was warned, I deleted it
We cannot be too careful.

Pam in Bristol

The message
from Pam Moore contains these words:
On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 18:35:19 +0100, Chris Hogg wrote:

In case anyone else gets this...

I've just had a message purporting to come from my ISP (Virgin.net),
saying that a lot of spam has been coming from my e-mail address, and
suggesting that my computer had become infected by a trojan, and that
I should follow the instructions in the attachment.

This surprised me a little, as I have efficient and reputable
anti-virus etc. software. When I downloaded the message (I read it
first through Mailwasher), my a-v software detected a virus in the
attachment and deleted it.

So the whole thing was a hoax and a means of spreading its own virus.
You have been warned!

BTW, it says on Virgin's website that they never send attachments to
e-mails.

Chris, I had a suspicious email appearing to be from virgin.net (my
isp) a few days ago. I had recently installed Avast, a free antivirus
program (on top of two others!) and it seems very efficient. It even
speaks and has picked up a few dubious incoming messages already.
Had it not done so on this I would have assumed it was OK, being from
Virgin. As I was warned, I deleted it
We cannot be too careful.

Most of these e-mails come in HTML and a lot can be activated just by
opening them in some mailreaders.

smug

Whatever form a scumpackage takes, Zetnet's mail/news handling program
lets you open and read the text (if any) without troubling any
attachment or HTML trap. I've been on the Internet for over nine years
now, and have never got a virus or Trojan. Lovely program! I've
downloaded hundreds of them with mail, but in order to become infected,
one must first decode the attachment and then deliberately run it. The
program does not render HTML.

/smug

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
k...
The message
from Pam Moore contains these words:
On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 18:35:19 +0100, Chris Hogg wrote:

In case anyone else gets this...

I've just had a message purporting to come from my ISP (Virgin.net),
saying that a lot of spam has been coming from my e-mail address, and
suggesting that my computer had become infected by a trojan, and that
I should follow the instructions in the attachment.

This surprised me a little, as I have efficient and reputable
anti-virus etc. software. When I downloaded the message (I read it
first through Mailwasher), my a-v software detected a virus in the
attachment and deleted it.

So the whole thing was a hoax and a means of spreading its own virus.
You have been warned!

BTW, it says on Virgin's website that they never send attachments to
e-mails.

Chris, I had a suspicious email appearing to be from virgin.net (my
isp) a few days ago. I had recently installed Avast, a free antivirus
program (on top of two others!) and it seems very efficient. It even
speaks and has picked up a few dubious incoming messages already.
Had it not done so on this I would have assumed it was OK, being from
Virgin. As I was warned, I deleted it
We cannot be too careful.

Most of these e-mails come in HTML and a lot can be activated just by
opening them in some mailreaders.

smug

Whatever form a scumpackage takes, Zetnet's mail/news handling program
lets you open and read the text (if any) without troubling any
attachment or HTML trap. I've been on the Internet for over nine years
now, and have never got a virus or Trojan. Lovely program! I've
downloaded hundreds of them with mail, but in order to become infected,
one must first decode the attachment and then deliberately run it. The
program does not render HTML.


Neither does Outlook Express if you disable HTML, I have mine set to plain
text and cannot recieve HTML emails....that is to say, the writing is in
plain text, the HTML crud is in an atachment, which get's binned.

The message
from "Phil L" contains these words:

Neither does Outlook Express if you disable HTML, I have mine set to plain
text and cannot recieve HTML emails....that is to say, the writing is in
plain text, the HTML crud is in an atachment, which get's binned.

You also have to disable the preview pane and have an antivirus program
running with OE - it's targeted by the scumware merchants because it's
(a) Billyware and (b) so full of holes.

I don't have a firewall, nor do I have an antivirus program - though I
have got Spybot S&D, CWSShredder, AdAware and SpywareBlaster for the
web-related worms and trojans.

Of course, if/when I have broadband I'll have to plumb everything
through a firewall, and have (my choice) F-Prot running.

Did you hear (BBC news this morning) that the creator of the Sasser worm
is now working for a net security company?

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Chris Hogg wrote:

In case anyone else gets this...

I've just had a message purporting to come from my ISP (Virgin.net),
saying that a lot of spam has been coming from my e-mail address, and
suggesting that my computer had become infected by a trojan, and that
I should follow the instructions in the attachment.

This surprised me a little, as I have efficient and reputable
anti-virus etc. software. When I downloaded the message (I read it
first through Mailwasher), my a-v software detected a virus in the
attachment and deleted it.

So the whole thing was a hoax and a means of spreading its own virus.
You have been warned!

BTW, it says on Virgin's website that they never send attachments to
e-mails.

Just another standard 'forged' email address by a virus,

Tips.. (just a reminder)

Use an alternative to Outlook Express, many viruses use OE's address
book to propagate.

Keep your AV software up to date

Use expirable or short life email addresses for signups & forums, such
as those from spamgourmet.com & spamhole.com

Use plain text, not HTML

Use BCC instead of CC where appropriate. Don't include everyones email
address on forwards (unless relevent)

Use something other than Windows

JimW
11 years of virus free computing :-D
--
Plants etc on Ebay
Check it out
http://tinyurl.com/hi6g