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Bombarded with email viruses


Al Brookbanks

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I used to get these such mails sometime back, but now since my main account is on Yahoo (premium) so infected/bulk mails have stopped comming, at Yahoo they use Virus detection and bulk mail filtering, so as of now I am not bothered by these mails (but who knows they will find a way).

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Guest Dave Smith

If you are running Outlook, I can highly recommend the spambayes plugin (http://starship.python.net/crew/mhammond/spambayes/) It may take a little time to train as to what you think is spam or not, but it is very effective.

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If you have a good antivirus program these emails shouldn't be reaching your Outlook inbox. I'd recommend checking out PC-Cillin, I'm sure Ryan will too. I've been trying it out for a bit and It grabs those virus emails and tosses them into quarantine for me at the blink of an eye... I think I will be purchasing it soon since it catches what the other top programs miss.

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I was just wondering how many of us keeps our Windows updated, just today Microsoft has issued two security patches, I keep mine updated all the time.

And do not think this one is a joke, but in my eight years of computer use I have never used an Antivirus programm directly on my computers and never ever had been my computers infected.

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Thats funny. You probably may not have a virus but I have XP Pro continually patched and McAffe which updates every day and I have had a couple of viruses. If you haven't had one you have been incredibly lucky. Ive received about 40 today in my email.

Problem is a lot of the time you don't have a clue you have a virus and something stupid like 3/5 computers do.

I recommend doing a http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

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I agree that I may be the lucky one not having any virus on my comp.

I have three computers at home and 12 at office, and I simply follow the following rules.

1) Never use floppies/cdroms brought from outside.

2) Never downloads from untrusted sites (Warez Etc).

3) Never open unknown emails (even when it is coming through Yahoo).

4) Never use Antivirus programms (Once Norton itself infected my friends comp).

5) Always keep my Windows updated through Windows Update tool.

6) Use one old 486 Machine with Linux as router/firewall (closing all unwanted ports and keeping kernel updated).

So none of the Windows based viruse reach my machines.

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I have a question Don't Ask...

How the hell do you know if you have a virus or not if you haven't scanned to see??

10-1 odds if you do a 100% SAFE free scan at the link brooky provided above, you will probably have a small virus lurking somewhere on your machine.

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Guest ryandelany

Don't Ask,

I would be willing to bet money you have a virus somewhere on your machine. The steps you take are good, but the problem is that viruses are so pervasive these days and very rarely do they require user interaction to get infected. Most good viruses take advantage of a known exploit that causes the virus to activate as soon as it is received in your inbox. Using a Linux router/firewall is a great idea, but you have port 110 open for inbound mail, and most viruses today are attached to emails so your firewall isn't doing you any good there.

You are also overlooking web-based viruses that you get from going to different web pages. There was a person who setup eStore and the free webhost he was using had a virus in the ads it was displaying, which you would have got without any AV software. Fortunately, that virus didn't do any harm, but was a virus none the less.

The virus that Brooky first referenced is the WORM_SOBIG.F virus that has been in the news and is officially the fastest spreading virus to date. My friend's company has blocked 50,000 copies of it since last week and one of my customers has blocked over 500,000 copies in the last week.

I strongly recommend AV software no matter how good you think you are about protecting yourself. Go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and let us know if it detects any virus at all.

Regards,

Ryan

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I agree that I may be the lucky one not having any virus on my comp.

How the heck would you know if you have a virus or not if you don't scan for viruses???

2) Never downloads from untrusted sites (Warez Etc).

Have you ever downloaded trial or shareware? Were you aware of web-based viruses? These sites may or may not be in your eyes 'trusted', especially if sponsored by big names like ZDNet, but that doesn't mean people haven't posted software that is infected (knowingly or not). If my best friend has a website he may be trusted, but I'm afraid his website is not. Your theory is hopelessly flawed.

4) Never use Antivirus programms (Once Norton itself infected my friends comp).

I've never heard such smug, complacent rubbish in all my life. This is the kind of dangerous urban myth that persuades impressionable and vulnerable people (who want to save a few bucks) installing the one thing that stands between them and a wasted hard drive!

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It's not completely rubbish Frank, I got a virus before by installing norton from one of their mirrors(or so it said). It had been attacked at some point by someone. I've learned to download software such as this from their main website only.

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It's not completely rubbish Frank

Sorry AngP, it is. Your situation was an issue of 'trusted sources', not the program itself or its value to us in protecting our machines from hacking malcontents and anarchists. He stated unequivocally:

4) Never use Antivirus programms (Once Norton itself infected my friends comp).

To say "Never use Antivirus programs" is an incriedible statement to make and could be considered gross negligence if it was uttered by a computer consultant. It is tantamount to me saying "Never wear a seatbelt" because it once chaffed my shoulder when a car bumped into the back of mine. You could draw a smiliar comparison by saying "Never drive a Ford, Saab, Volkwagen or Rolls Royce, because my friend once had an accident in a Volvo".

Sorry, but it I won't sit back and let that statement ride without being thoroughly challenged. Anti-virus programs are a major part of the non-technical home user's protective arsenal and I have yet to be convinced by anybody that this is not the case. I feel it was an irresponsible statement.

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Guest readitag

I haven't seen anything on this so if this is old news to you sorry.

The virus brooky is getting is the Sobig.F virus. It's a pain, but is easily stopped by Norton. However you going to get them for a while unless you set up a spam filter on your server.

Good news - the virus is set to self distruct Sept 7th

Good luck!

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Guest ryandelany

The SOBIG.F virus will expire itself on Sept 10, not Sept 7 (as if it makes much of a difference). More info available here, including cleaning instructions:

http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyc...me=WORM_SOBIG.F

It's people who don't have AV that cause these viruses to spread like wildfire. If people took more responsibility for protecting their own machines (and not opening emails they know nothing about) the internet would be a slightly safer place! Until then, download some AV software, pay the few dollars, and do the rest of us a favor.

Ryan

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Yeah I'm still recieving about 20+ visuses a day but McAffee deletes every one of them permanently on arival. However after a deep scan over night this computer was infected with SoBig AGAIN and a Trojan which was causing it to pause about every ten minutes then suddenly start again!! All clean now and just to save panic the download on this server has been tested with latest update from McAffee and is fine.

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