Virus How To Get Rid Of

[petercallen]

Twice now someone has used my Email account to send a message with a attachment to all the people on my contact list

How do i block access to this person and get rid of him/her

[cdnvic]

How strong is your password?

Get a good (not just whatever is free) antivirus (Kaspersky, ESET, Avira, Symantec. I find Kaspersky and Eset learn the local malware fastest). Run a spyware program like Malwarebytes as a backup.

Make sure your Windows is updated and legit.

Start with an online scan to see what you have.

http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/

[p_brownstone]

It does not sound like a Virus, more likely someone knows your Password.

Change your Password and stop using Internet Shops to access your Email Account - if you have to use such services then change your Password again once you get back to your own Computer; many Internet shops have Keyloggers installed on their Computers.

Patrick

[petercallen]

It does not sound like a Virus, more likely someone knows your Password.

Change your Password and stop using Internet Shops to access your Email Account - if you have to use such services then change your Password again once you get back to your own Computer; many Internet shops have Keyloggers installed on their Computers.

Patrick

I never use Internet shops, I did get a Email which i opened which had a attachment

that said urgent but i logged of and did not use my password

This seems to be the same Email going to all the people on my contact list

[jamesbrock]

It does not sound like a Virus, more likely someone knows your Password.

Change your Password and stop using Internet Shops to access your Email Account - if you have to use such services then change your Password again once you get back to your own Computer; many Internet shops have Keyloggers installed on their Computers.

Patrick

I never use Internet shops, I did get a Email which i opened which had a attachment

that said urgent but i logged of and did not use my password

This seems to be the same Email going to all the people on my contact list

While there is always the possibility that someone who knows your email address decided to hack into it, either by using a keylogger or a brute force attack and then sent an email similar to one that you opened to everyone on your contacts list, Occam's Razor would suggest that you opening that email triggered the trojan contained therein to send the mass email to everyone in your contacts list.

If you don't have the sender on your contacts list, or don't recognise the sender or subject, DO NOT open the email at all.

It amazes me that people will settle on the least likely scenario, rather than to accept responsibility for their own lack of internet savvy. Just like the kiddies who add dozens of 'apps' to their Facebook, giving them blanket access to all their information and even allowing the developers (whoever they may be) to post stuff on their behalf, who then turn around and claim to be 'hacked' when something is sent from their profile without their knowledge...

Edit: speeeeeling.

Edited January 22, 2012 by jamesbrock

[urandom]

still have the email? you shoud be able to on-line analyze the attachment, which will tell you what kind of crap your machine is infected with and the proper way to remove it, if that's even possible.

if i were you, i won't even use windows would reinstall my OS from scratch and take it as a good lesson for the way I use my computer.

[petercallen]

How strong is your password?

Get a good (not just whatever is free) antivirus (Kaspersky, ESET, Avira, Symantec. I find Kaspersky and Eset learn the local malware fastest). Run a spyware program like Malwarebytes as a backup.

Make sure your Windows is updated and legit.

Start with an online scan to see what you have.

http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/

Thank you very much i have ran eset and i will see if it fixes the problem

[petercallen]

It does not sound like a Virus, more likely someone knows your Password.

Change your Password and stop using Internet Shops to access your Email Account - if you have to use such services then change your Password again once you get back to your own Computer; many Internet shops have Keyloggers installed on their Computers.

Patrick

I never use Internet shops, I did get a Email which i opened which had a attachment

that said urgent but i logged of and did not use my password

This seems to be the same Email going to all the people on my contact list

While there is always the possibility that someone who knows your email address decided to hack into it, either by using a keylogger or a brute force attack and then sent an email similar to one that you opened to everyone on your contacts list, Occam's Razor would suggest that you opening that email triggered the trojan contained therein to send the mass email to everyone in your contacts list.

If you don't have the sender on your contacts list, or don't recognise the sender or subject, DO NOT open the email at all.

It amazes me that people will settle on the least likely scenario, rather than to accept responsibility for their own lack of internet savvy. Just like the kiddies who add dozens of 'apps' to their Facebook, giving them blanket access to all their information and even allowing the developers (whoever they may be) to post stuff on their behalf, who then turn around and claim to be 'hacked' when something is sent from their profile without their knowledge...

Edit: speeeeeling.

I am in my 60s and only had a computer for 3 years, of coarse i lack knowledge about

computers thats why i asked the question,No need for bashing comments

[melsnet]

No expert on this, but are you on Facebook or Twitter. They collect your friends from your email account. Twitter emailed me to say to change my password because of some sort of infitration, but closed the account instead.

[jamesbrock]

I am in my 60s and only had a computer for 3 years, of coarse i lack knowledge about

computers thats why i asked the question,No need for bashing comments

Yes, sorry Peter; I didn't mean to bash you personally, it was mostly directed at p_brownstone who seemed adamant that you were indeed hacked. While email hacking is indeed possible, it is a very rare occurrence for everyday users like you and I; and the fact that your email account was used "to send a message with a attachment to all the people on [your] contact list" was a pretty fair indication that you had encountered a virus.

As cdnvic advised, get yourself a good anti-virus - something like Kaspersky will scan your incoming emails and keep you safe from pretty much all threats, and is very frugal with system resources while doing so. I used Kaspersky Internet Security for years before I stopped using Windows, and the only time I ever got a virus was when I 'paused protection' in order to open a web page that it was preventing me from opening. Dolt! It may seem like a big outlay, but it's definitely worth having.

While I agree that you should download, install and run a scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free, I wouldn't run it continuously, as it can be a resource-hog. Besides, with a good anti-virus like Kaspersky, you wouldn't need to. I would also go one step further and download, install and run a scan with Spybot Search & Destroy. On their own, Spyboy S&D and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware are excellent, but combined they find, and protect you from, pretty much everything.

As for reinstalling your operating system, I would't go that far just yet. There are many less time consuming and complicated ways of removing viruses without going that far. When I got the virus I mentioned above, I removed it with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, but I had to run Windows in Safe Mode to do so.

Again, I'm sorry for the bashing tone of my earlier post. Don't let it put you off asking and learning.

[p_brownstone]

I am in my 60s and only had a computer for 3 years, of coarse i lack knowledge about

computers thats why i asked the question,No need for bashing comments

Yes, sorry Peter; I didn't mean to bash you personally, it was mostly directed at p_brownstone who seemed adamant that you were indeed hacked.

I merely said "it does not sound like a Virus".

Perhaps you should look up the definition of the word "adamant" and at the same time try to learn not to be so aggressive and confrontational in your responses to people who are only trying to assist the OP.

Patrick

[silsburyhill]

I am in my 60s and only had a computer for 3 years, of coarse i lack knowledge about

computers thats why i asked the question,No need for bashing comments

Yes, sorry Peter; I didn't mean to bash you personally, it was mostly directed at p_brownstone who seemed adamant that you were indeed hacked. While email hacking is indeed possible, it is a very rare occurrence for everyday users like you and I; and the fact that your email account was used "to send a message with a attachment to all the people on [your] contact list" was a pretty fair indication that you had encountered a virus.

Orrr, he's seriously pissed someone off. What was the attachment?

Edited January 24, 2012 by silsburyhill