virus and spam

[Grue]

Hi All,

What with the odd problem with the board, I was wondering if any of you have had a huge influx of spam?

I've been plagued by spammers and messages containing a virus. Opened the box today after only 6 hours, 44 messages, 40 of them spam + virus.

Remember Microsoft does'nt send email so anything claiming a microsoft connection should be deleted.

There are new "strains" out there so please update. If you have'nt got a good program there's a free one on http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php

I've decided to fight the spammers. I have software that sends a mesage back to senders who are'nt in my contact list requesting a verification.

If you would like to do the same here's a link to the software.
http://spamarrest.com/affl?2391501

Glenn

[silentC]

Thanks for the link.

Of necessity, my email address is bandied all over the internet at various work-related bulletin boards (the most notorious of which are the Microsoft ones) which are ripe fodder for the spammers. I get hundreds of spam emails a week and some of them I'd be embarassed for anyone else to see.

I've certainly noticed an increase in the last week and a couple have been viruses masquerading as 'latest security updates' from Microsoft. To be blunt, you'd be silly to open the attachments but people still do it!

The biggest problem for me is that all of the effective spam blockers rely on a defined set of contacts - just not feasible in my job. I can't block out, or even inconvenience, people who aren't in my contacts list.

It's hard to know what the solution might be. To blame are the 'hotmail' style ISPs that let you set up annonymous accounts. They shut them down pretty quick when they realise that they're being used for spamming but the spamming software just creates a new one and starts again.

I guess it's just something we will have to learn to live with. The popups haven't really hit here yet but I get three or four a week. Now they are really annoying because you have to click OK to get rid of them. I got one yesterday that said 'Are you sick of all the popups? Well go to this URL to download our free trial etc.. etc..'.

That's the Internet, warts and all.

[Grue]

Hi SilentC

I have the same problem:

The biggest problem for me is that all of the effective spam blockers rely on a defined set of contacts - just not feasible in my job. I can't block out, or even inconvenience, people who aren't in my contacts list.

Spamarrest provide you with a list of emails on hold if you like and you can elect to get those you believe to be genuine. First thing I do logging on, and last thing before logging off is to check the list.

Blocked 80+ messages overnight! That list would have taken me over an hour to recieve! I selected 2 messages from the 4 pages of those sent and had them delivered. Minimal inconvenience to the sender, and a short explanation - all OK

Regards

Glenn
www.metalbashatorium.com

[kenmil]

I use McAfee Spamkiller, and it works a treat. Only one got through the net this week and it was harmless, and if it had a virus, the virus killer would have got it too. Spam filters which rely on a list of senders names are fairly basic, and present the problems you mention. Good spamkillers use pattern matching, which is configurable by the user. I would recommend McAfee for that.

[silentC]

Ken,

I'll give it a go. In real terms it costs my company about $70-$140 a day in lost billable time, so I'm sure they wont mind paying for something that works.

I've used the agents that you can configure in MS Outlook. You can set up a word list as a filter. But it's amazing how many ways there are of spelling 'pen1s' and 'v*i*a*g*r*a' if you use punctuation characters and numerals.

Cheers,
Darren

[Shane Watson]

I've had none!

[ozwinner]

Hi All
I use Norton Internet Security.
I dont get any spam, or pop up adds, plus it kills the bugs dead in their track.
Cheers, Allan

[Robert WA]

My computer is networked with my wife's laptop and we run Norton's Internet Security and Ativirus. Strangely enough, I never get spam but my wife, with a different email address, gets 20 - 30 a day. My only contact with lists is via this and a couple of other Forums. Hers is via a number of genealogy sites.
I have tried spam blockers on her computer, running Win98 SE, but they are a waste of time. As soon as you set criteria to stop spam, a new variety appears that goes past the block.
I have used McAfee in the past as a virus scanner and decided that Nortons was better. I was not aware that McAfee produced a spam blocker and will have a look at it. My wife does not need to have her penis enlarged.

[ozwinner]

Hi Robert
She might like it if you did though....................lol
Cheers, Allan:eek:

[Robert WA]

Why do you think the spammers don't bother me? They know it would be a waste of their time.

[kenmil]

Originally posted by Shane Watson
I've had none!

Maybe it's your deodorant ?

BUT I DON'T WEAR NONE! :eek:

[Neil]

Here is a link to what I believe to be one of the best Anti Virus programs around. http://www.quickheal.com/default.htm
It is cheap to buy and easy to use with free weekly updated for life (sometimes more often than weekly) and to top it off you are automatically told when there are updates waiting to be downloaded. When I originally installed it a couple of years ago it picked up 3 worms and 2 viruses on my computer that weren't found by Norton (and I was updating Norton weekly). I can't recommend it highly enough. Oh yes, and as a special bonus it is not targeted with viruses that get in under the nose of some of the bigger anti virus programs like Norton.

This link is for people using OUTLOOK for Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP and Outlook 98, 2000, 2002 and Outlook 2003 http://www.spamfighter.com. It has the potential of being the greatest spam fighting device in the world. At the moment it is free, there may be a fee somewhere down the track, which I will gladly pay. They are currently also working on a version for Outlook Express. Again I highly recommend this one and urge everyone to use it as the more users there are the wider the net will spread against spam.

Those who don't get spam are most likely having the spam and viruses filtered automatically by their service provider. There is a minor problem with this, in that it is also likely to be filtering out stuff that is not spam or a virus. SpamFighter Press Release

Hope this is of some interest.

Cheers - Neil

[GeoffS]

Here's a couple more helpers which I use or have used.

ePrompter from www.ePrompter.com - goes out and checks all your email accounts (I have had it checking 6) at regular intervals or just when you tell it to. Lets you know if there is any there and lets you look at just the headers or the entire message (no attachments) - you can then tell it to delete the ones you don't want. Then get your email program to get the ones you do want that are left. Works well and it is FREE.

mailwasher from www.mailwasher.net. A bit more automated than ePrompter but the free version will only check one account other wise it does very similar things.

For pop-ups I use a thing from SuperGee.com called 12Ghosts Pop-up killer. The free version has some restrictions but it works like a dream. Have not seen a pop-up for months. It stops ALL secondary screens. You have to hold down the ctl key to get a secondary screen. Minor nuisance at first but you soon get used to it. Everytime it stops a secondary screen a bright yellow pop-up (!) appears in the top right of your screen. You can almost see it with your eyes shut. When you click on an address that is going to open a secondary screen (such as on this forum) you get this clear warning if you don't hold down the ctl key. The pop-up only occurs for sec. screens, banners etc just disappear.

Cheers

[q9]

I have Norton Internet Security, but I use "Custom" settings. I admit I am a bit heavy handed, sometimes with the result that I break some websites (they don't work for me, not without some tweaking), but generally I am quite happy with it. NIS will stop pop-ups and all sorts of annoying things if you spend a bit of time with it.

I have never given my email address out willy~nilly, and those that do have it, have some sort of anti~virus protecting them against mail worms, etc, or are under serious obligation to protect my details.

I haven't had any spam this year AT ALL. I report all incidents IMMEDIATELY to my isp, and it is taken care of. As a bonus, I always get ACTUAL email that is intended for me.

Maybe I have just been lucky, but I like to think a healthy dose of dis~trust and paranoia had something to do with it.

I don't think that any influx of spam is related to this bb. Just more nasties floating around the net breaching the vast majority of non-secured systems.

[silentC]

Here's a link to an article about popup stoppers:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...625208944.html

It actually makes the distinction between the popups which are really just a new browser window spawned by some script (many of which are not spam) and the ones that use the Messenger service. These are the ones I was talking about. I get one or two a day at the moment but they'll be on the increase I'm sure. Not many tools around at the moment seem to block these but if you've got XP (I haven't) you can configure a firewall to block them.

The problem with blocking the spawning of new browser windows is that a lot of sites use these as an integral part of the navigation. A couple of the sites I have worked on use them for dialogue boxes and popup help windows like you see in a desktop application. If people start running these popup stoppers, it's going to make these sites a bit of a hassle to use and we're going to have to work out another way. The clients will be p'ed off because they're going to have to pay for redevelopment.

Gotta love the computer biz.