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Thread ID: 48505	2004-08-25 05:34:00	FAQ #22 - Warning message about an email I didn't send	-FAQ- (807)	Press F1

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265119	2004-08-25 05:34:00	FAQ #22 - Warning message about an email I didn't send and/or Receiving returned mail I've never sent Originally written by Susan B Typical Questions: Example One: Im receiving return email from the Postmaster, from emails Ive never sent to people Ive known but are NOT in my address book . These are from work associates for a company I ceased working for 5yrs ago . I recognise some of the names, which they may have retained my home email in their address book, but that unlikely . Further more, these staff have email addresses have a company that is related to the business I worked for, not the original . Im using AVG7, updated & scanned daily, no viruses ever found . Example Two: I have, in the last two or three days, had messages "returning" e-mails that I certainly had not sent that were supposed to contain viruses . I have Norton Anti-Virus which is kept up-to-date, and I have ZoneAlarm fire wall . The messages were supposed to be to "service@anywhere . co . nz" and the virus was identified as "Win32/Netsky . Zworm" and "Win32/Netsky . Z@MM!Zip" . Has someone taken over my machine or is this a hoax? Example Three: I have just had 2 e-mails appear in my inbox stating that 'MailMarshal (an automated content monitoring gateway) has not delivered the following message: blah blah blah because it contained an executable file' It then goes to list an e-mail address . The point is that I do not know the e-mail address that I purportedly sent an e-mail too . I then went to the web site of where the e-mail address was supposed to be sent to find out that it belonged to a group of chartered accounts in Wellington (I am based in Auckland) that I had also not heard of before . What could be causing this and should I be doing something about it? I have Nortons Internet Security installed and the virus definitions are automatically updated . I also keep the Windows security updates updated regularly . Answers: Someone who has your email address in their address book, plus the other addresses is infected with a virus and as a result you get all the undelivered notifications . It harvests these addresses and uses one (in this case yours) as the false "from" address and sends to all the others . Therefore when the emails bounce, they bounce back to the false "from" address, in this case you . There is nothing you can do about it . If your email address is widely circulated it could be anyone who has the address in their system . It is quite common, just ignore them and delete . Technical explanation by whiskeytangofoxtrot: The reason you are receiving these is most likely because someone you know is infected with a virus . Most viruses operate by picking two addresses at random out of an address book, setting one as the sender, and one as the recipient . This is why you are receiving mail from someone you do not necessarily know . Unfortunately there is no easy way of tracking back the original infected source, or a way of blocking these messages from coming through . Your ISP may scan your e-mail for viruses as they arrive at their server . This will protect you against known e-mail viruses before they reach your machine . They will only be able to detect incoming e-mail viruses, so you will still need a virus scanner on your home computer as well to protect you against internet, disk based and file sharing viruses . If you have a virus scanner on your machine such as Norton Antivirus, PC-Cillin or similar make sure you have run the update feature to get the latest virus information . If you haven't run the updates for some time it is advisable to run the update a few times to ensure all the available software upgrades have been downloaded . There are many good free alternatives to commercial virus scanners - if you don't have a virus scanner it would be worthwhile installing one of the following: ClamWin http://www . clamwin . net AVG Virus Scanner http://www . grisoft . com Antivir Virus Scanner http://www . free-av . com These are available for free download from the internet and require regular updates as you would with a normal commercial Antivirus Solution . If you are looking for more information on a virus, or assistance with repairing or removing a virus visit the link below and search for the virus name as identified by your virus scanner - this should provide you with plenty of information on any virus you may encounter . . symantec . com/avcenter/vinfodb . html" target="_blank">www . symantec . com Usually the incidence of these will die down as people realise they are infected and remove the virus . Compiled from previous contributions by whiskeytangofoxtrot, Jim B and godfather . Original FAQ available from here ( . pcworld . co . nz/thread . jsp?forum=1&thread=48140&message=279314&q=faq+%2318#279314" target="_blank">pressf1 . pcworld . co . nz) .	-FAQ- (807)
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