OT - viruses

* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the
delicate perfume
* of violets, as Paul Rooney <[email hidden]> descended
on a shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

Quoted message said:

This was discussed hre not so long ago, but I can't find
the discussion. People were getting infected emails
apparently from other members of the ng, though not really
from said other members.

It happens - I even get spam, some with attached viruses,
purporting to come from myself! If you're casual about
exposing your real email address on the net (as I am), then
a spammers email harvester is bound to pick it sometime.
I've simply got several lines of defence against spammers
and viruses - including the most essential one of not using
any of the MS operating systems!

Regards: Jim Ford

"Paul Rooney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This was discussed hre not so long ago, but I can't find
the discussion. People were getting infected emails
apparently from other members of the ng, though not really
from said other members. Nick's got a couple that appear
to come from me, and had emailed me as follows:

Hello Paul,

I have received another e-mail apparently from yourself
that contained the Beagle virus. Norton said:

"Contained the Beagle virus"? Probably didn't an Email
can't! An attachment?

Why bother with all this virus hype? Just delete or virus
scan attachments, then delete if infected!

Jonti

In a recent message
<[email hidden]>, Paul Rooney
<[email hidden]> wrote.

Quoted message said:

This was discussed hre not so long ago, but I can't find
the discussion. People were getting infected emails
apparently from other members of the ng, though not really
from said other members. Nick's got a couple that appear to
come from me, and had emailed me as follows:

Could someone please confirm from the headers that the
offending e-mail did in fact came from the following:

netname: EURONET-ADSL descr: Wanadoo Nederland BV

It looks like this to me, but I'm no expert.

Regards, Nick.

--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton Caversham, Reading, England
<[email hidden]

Paul Rooney said:

This was discussed hre not so long ago, but I can't find
the discussion. People were getting infected emails
apparently from other members of the ng, though not really
from said other members.

I'm getting lots of emails from myself these days, although
with another name! I'm also getting lots of undelivered
messages from demon and tiscali telling me that messages I
never sent haven't been delivered.

Don't know what other people are receiving from my email
addresses, but I'm not sending them.

Paul
--
wilderness-wales.co.ukwilderness-wales.co.ukOpen ↗
wildwales.fsnet.co.ukwildwales.fsnet.co.ukOpen ↗
photosig.comuserphotosOpen ↗

Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Paul Rooney said:

This was discussed hre not so long ago, but I can't find
the discussion. People were getting infected emails
apparently from other members of the ng, though not
really from said other members.

I'm getting lots of emails from myself these days, although
with another name!

Me too, mostly with payloads, to the extent that I reject
anything not specifically addressed to me, ie, random names
at my domain, and tell Norton to delete viruses silently.
--
Gordon

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 17:43:18 +0100, Paul Rooney <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

This was discussed hre not so long ago, but I can't find
the discussion. People were getting infected emails
apparently from other members of the ng, though not really
from said other members. Nick's got a couple that appear to
come from me, and had emailed me as follows:

Looking at the headers the virus originated from a Wanadoo
pipe in the Netherlands.

In general the way these virii work is....

1 Infected machine starts spewing out viruses.
2. It looks in it's address book, or in the Outlook Distress
addressbook, or an incoming email address on an inbound
email and takes that address and attaches it to the sent
spam item.
3. You can see therefore that a person will get a virus from
person X which has said it's person Y - hence the
confusion.

Since the email address has to arrive on the infected PC
somehwo in order to get sent it also follows that small
communties like newsgroups that share addresses and hold
these in address books are likely to get infected as a group
- although the person who purports to send the email is not
the one who actual sent it.

Quoted message said:

Hello Paul,

I have received another e-mail apparently from yourself
that contained the Beagle virus. Norton said:

Norton AntiVirus removed the attachment: Details.scr. The
attachment was infected with the W32.Beagle.X@mm virus.

The message header is shown below. It goes without saying
that I don't think you intended to send this <g>. But you
ought to know about it.

Regards, Nick.

BEGIN HEADER ======================== Received: from
pop.dsl.pipex.com by dsl.pipex.com with POP3 id <"10607666-
94.19196"."[email hidden]"@pop.dsl.pipex.com> for
<"[email hidden]"@pop.dsl.pipex.com>; Tue, 1 Jun 2004
13:48:39 +0100 Return-Path: <[email hidden]> Received:
from funhouse.systems.pipex.net (funhouse.systems.pipex.net
[62.241.160.71]) by digdug (Cyrus v2.1.13) with LMTP; Mon,
31 May 2004 22:00:19 +0100 X-Sieve: CMU
Sieve 2.2 X-Envelope-To:
[email hidden] Received: from sony.com
(rt-z-f980.adsl.wanadoo.nl [81.69.23.128])
by funhouse.systems.pipex.net (Postfix) with
SMTP id 6856A24000EB for
<[email hidden]>; Mon, 31 May 2004
22:00:16 +0100 (BST) Date: Mon, 31 May 2004
22:59:31 +0100 To: "Hopton"
<[email hidden]> From: "Paulrooney"
<[email hidden]> Subject: New changes
Message-ID:
<[email hidden]> MIME-
Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="--------pgotmorufvgdopjgwoqv" END
HEADER ==========================

-----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------

There's no infection on my machine - could someone please
remind Nick and me how these are done, to put his mind at
rest? I wouldn't want him to think I was some sort of
internet hooligan. Ahem. Thanks.

--
4.84% of all statistics are made up on the spot. The other
42% are made up later on. In Warwick - looking at flat
fields and that includes the castle. Take out the planet
to reply by email

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 17:43:18 +0100, Paul Rooney

Quoted message said:

This was discussed hre not so long ago, but I can't find
the discussion. People were getting infected emails
apparently from other members of the ng, though not really
from said other members. Nick's got a couple that appear to
come from me, and had emailed me as follows:

..............snip............

You are laying yourself open to Spam by having your email
address in your newsgroup postings and then compounding it
by posting a message with email addresses in it. Spambots
will lap these up; so you will get more [censored].

Most of the viri as has already been stated are being
spawned from from MS Outlook address books.

Some simple rules

Never post your true email address on a newsgroup or
website. (Use a NOSPAM or something equally inventive in
your email address). For websites you can encode your email
address as Java Script free at

automaticlabs.comenkoderOpen ↗

Alternatively use a 'disposable email address' for all
public postings; some can redirect to your 'real email
address'.

Don't use MS Outlook or Outlook Express unless you have to.
There are better email clients that can't automatically run
virri. I use Pocomail which I find miles better.

Never open attachments unless you are sure of the source.

Keep your software fully patched when updates come out.

Use a spam program such as K9, Spampal or Mailwasher if the
spam problem is really bad.

If tolerable consider a program like Poptray www.poptray.org
this runs all the time (particularly if you have broadband)
and can check your inbox at predefined intervals (or on
request) - it can be set up with rules to mark [censored] as spam
for you to delete or it can delete it automatically. You can
also set up whitelists and blacklists. Best of all you can
preview it on your server and delete it before it gets to
your computer. An invaluable tool.

Since removing all my email addresses from my website a
couple of years back and never posting my email address
the Spam has reduced to a trickle. Poptray now takes care
of the rest.

If you want to trace spam you can post all the raw message
into Spamcop

www.spamcop.net and

a) find out where it most likely came from and
b) add it to a list of spammers that some of the above
software can use to reduce spam.

Of probably more concern these days are
malware,spyware, worms and trojans which are mostly
exploitng holes in MS products.

Download and use Adaware and Spybot (although the latter has
just come out as a new version and has a few teething
problems on some sytems). If you have'nt run them before I
suspect you will be amazed at the potential problems lurking
on your PC.

In message <[email hidden]>, Mark South
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

"Paul Saunders" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mark South said:

Maybe, maybe not. It's an arms race of a classic sort,
and there's no saying who will win. It may become
pointless to use email beyond a certain point.

Yeah. Something really should be done about it, it's
getting out of hand.

Everything that's being done is perpetuating the arms race.

It's known that arms races generally produce two losers.

Someone needs to be smart enough to end the arms race.

People attempting to end arms races are generally reviled
by both sides, since they each expect to win.

Draw your conclusions.

You sound like Mr Miya from another place. "The way to win
is not to play".

In message <[email hidden]>, Paul
Saunders <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Mark South said:

Maybe, maybe not. It's an arms race of a classic sort,
and there's no saying who will win. It may become
pointless to use email beyond a certain point.

Yeah. Something really should be done about it, it's
getting out of hand.

I've found emailfiltering.co.ukemailfiltering.co.ukOpen ↗ very good. I only
get a dozen or so spam emails a day at most and in well over
a year they've only blocked one email I wanted. Every so
often I check the hundreds of spam emails I haven't
received. They block the emails that purport to come from me
that are bounced back to me too, putting them straight into
the rubbish folder. And they block viruses. My virus
software has only picked up one virus since I started using
email filtering. They send out emails when a virus does turn
up so you can check if it's from someone you know. Usually
it isn't but I was able to let one friend know they had a
virus. This does mean that occasionally I receive dozens of
emails when some spammer sends out masses of viruses of
course. But overall spam is no longer a real problem.

Chris Townsend <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

You sound like Mr Miya from another place. "The way to win
is not to play".

I don't buy £10 worth of lottery tickets every week, so that
puts me £10 per week better off, except on the odd week when
I may have won £10.
--
Gordon

In message <[email hidden]>, Mark South
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

"Chris Townsend" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Mark South
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

"Paul Saunders" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...
> Mark South wrote:
>
> > Maybe, maybe not. It's an arms race of a classic
> > sort, and there's no saying who will win. It may
> > become pointless to use email beyond a certain
> > point.
>
> Yeah. Something really should be done about it, it's
> getting out of hand.

Everything that's being done is perpetuating the
arms race.

It's known that arms races generally produce two losers.

Someone needs to be smart enough to end the arms race.

People attempting to end arms races are generally
reviled by both sides,

since

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

they each expect to win.

Draw your conclusions.

You sound like Mr Miya from another place. "The way to
win is not to play".

Chris, as you know very well, any agreement between myself
and Eugene is entirely accidental :-)

Where have you been, BTW? You've been silent a couple of
weeks, so I have been suspecting that we may require a trip
report of you.

Sometimes I'm silent 'cos I'm working! This time I have been
away, across Scotland on the 25th TGO Challenge, from Oban
to Montrose. My 10th crossing. I was on the first one too. A
mix of weather, with very heavy rain around Tyndrum and
sunshine at the finish. 300kms, 14,000 metres of ascent, 14
Corbetts, 7 Munros. Much wildlife, especially in the east,
including a stoat running across the path in front of me
with a rabbit in its mouth, a hen harrier patrolling the
moors, a big fox loping past some wary sheep and a couple of
high soaring golden eagles.

In message <[email hidden]>, Mark South
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

"Chris Townsend" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Mark South
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Where have you been, BTW? You've been silent a couple of
weeks, so I have

been

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

suspecting that we may require a trip report of you.

Sometimes I'm silent 'cos I'm working! This time I have
been away, across Scotland on the 25th TGO Challenge,
from Oban to Montrose. My 10th crossing. I was on the
first one too.

Cool.

Did you get any axes thrown at you by dwarves, BTW? I ask
'cos they've been fair flying around here. Axes I mean.

Axes? Dwarves? Have I missed something bizarre?

The rain did appear a little personal at times but there
were no axes.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

A mix of weather, with very heavy rain around Tyndrum and
sunshine at the finish. 300kms, 14,000 metres of ascent,
14 Corbetts, 7 Munros. Much wildlife, especially in the
east, including a stoat running across the path in front
of me with a rabbit in its mouth, a hen harrier
patrolling the moors, a big fox loping past some wary
sheep and a couple of high soaring golden eagles.

We'll call that a summarised TR and let you off with a
caution this time :-)

JBTW: Yes, I *was* tempted to leave the huge multilayered
indentation in the post a la rec.backcountry but I don't
think it would have been appreciated here.

No, this isn't a photography thread.

In message <[email hidden]>, Mark South
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

"Chris Townsend" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Mark South
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

"Chris Townsend" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
> In message <[email hidden]>, Mark South
> <[email hidden]> writes
>
> >Where have you been, BTW? You've been silent a couple
> >of weeks, so I have
been
> >suspecting that we may require a trip report of you.
>
> Sometimes I'm silent 'cos I'm working! This time I
> have been away, across Scotland on the 25th TGO
> Challenge, from Oban to Montrose. My 10th crossing. I
> was on the first one too.

Cool.

Did you get any axes thrown at you by dwarves, BTW?
I ask 'cos they've been fair flying around here.
Axes I mean.

Axes? Dwarves? Have I missed something bizarre?

Oh yes!

Quoted message said:

The rain did appear a little personal at times but there
were no axes.

They were flying thick and fast around here and you had to
duck a lot. Actually, most of the membership have been
killed by them, as they will tell you themselves.

Now come on you silent lot, verify my story for me!

They all think it's still a virus thread!

Or they're all dead due to axe attack.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> A mix of weather, with very heavy rain around Tyndrum
> and sunshine at the finish. 300kms, 14,000 metres of
> ascent, 14 Corbetts, 7 Munros. Much wildlife,
> especially in the east, including a stoat running
> across the path in front of me with a rabbit in its
> mouth, a hen harrier patrolling the moors, a big fox
> loping past some wary sheep and a couple of high
> soaring golden eagles.

We'll call that a summarised TR and let you off with a
caution this time :-)

JBTW: Yes, I *was* tempted to leave the huge
multilayered indentation in the post a la
rec.backcountry but I don't think it would have been
appreciated here.

No, this isn't a photography thread.

But also, and most importantly, did you have your GPS
with you? :-)

I have to admit I .........................................-
............................ didn't.

I did have my Silva 7 compass though.

And some maps, one dated 1987 - some forests seem to have
appeared since then!

In message <[email hidden]>, Paul Saunders
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Chris Townsend said:

Axes? Dwarves? Have I missed something bizarre?

If you were never into text adventures then don't worry
about it. Just a bit of nostalgia.

Text adventures? Novels? Somehow I don't think so.
Thinks...... Computer games before pictures? DOS games?

Quoted message said:

Although I could provide some links if you are
interested... ;-)

Thanks but probably not!

In message <[email hidden]>,
Tim Jackson <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Mark South wrote on Wed, 2 Jun 2004 22:59:13 +0200....

Quoted message said:

Did you get any axes thrown at you by dwarves, BTW? I ask
'cos they've been fair flying around here. Axes I mean.

Mainly Babelfish flying around in my case :-)

Ah. Now I understand that reference.

In message <[email hidden]>, Paul Saunders
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Chris Townsend said:

Text adventures? Novels?

No, the computer versions, not the kid's books.

Quoted message said:

Somehow I don't think so. Thinks...... Computer games
before pictures? DOS games?

Yep, that's right.

I didn't know DOS anything still existed. Can they
still be used?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Although I could provide some links if you are
interested... ;-)

Thanks but probably not!

Fair enough. You probably don't have the time to waste! ;-)

I seem to find more than enough things to spend (some would
say waste) time on!

Years ago I uninstalled the Microsoft games - Patience etc -
as they were just too addictive.

All the digital camera stuff takes enough time.

As does checking on various web sites and newsgroups.

And that's apart from work.

"Paul Saunders" wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

Paul Rooney said:

This was discussed hre not so long ago, but I can't find
the discussion. People were getting infected emails
apparently from other members of the ng, though not
really from said other members.

I'm getting lots of emails from myself these days,
although with another name! I'm also getting lots of
undelivered messages from demon and tiscali telling me
that messages I never sent haven't been delivered.

Don't know what other people are receiving from my email
addresses, but I'm not sending them.

I'm also getting messages telling me of undelivered messages
I haven't sent and I also got a message telling me I'm on a
list of known spammers. Crazy! Next thing I'll be getting
Bills lads round for a chat.

Obviously my address (and yours) is being forged by a
spammer.

This internet really does need some sort of international
police force to stop this sort of mischief.

--
Regards Bob

Some photos of my plants at.....
/index.html"]http:[email hidden]/index.html

John said:

Never post your true email address on a newsgroup or
website. (Use a NOSPAM or something equally inventive in
your email address).

I tried inserting a NOSPAM for a few months but it made no
difference, so I changed it back. Once your email is out
there it's out there.

Quoted message said:

Alternatively use a 'disposable email address' for all
public postings; some can redirect to your 'real email
address'.

How does this redirecting work exactly? Is it the same thing
as email forwarding?

Paul
--
wilderness-wales.co.ukwilderness-wales.co.ukOpen ↗
wildwales.fsnet.co.ukwildwales.fsnet.co.ukOpen ↗
photosig.comuserphotosOpen ↗

John said:

Never post your true email address on a newsgroup or
website. (Use a NOSPAM or something equally inventive in
your email address).

The bots are getting wise to simple things like "nospam" and
"remove this" I have had spam for variants of my email
address that have been munged with simple things in other
newsgroups, I now use something more complicated.

Quoted message said:

For websites you can encode your email address as Java
Script free at

automaticlabs.comenkoderOpen ↗

Alternatively use a 'disposable email address' for all
public postings; some can redirect to your 'real email
address'.

Don't use MS Outlook or Outlook Express unless you have to.
There are better email clients that can't automatically run
virri. I use Pocomail which I find miles better.

Never open attachments unless you are sure of the source.

And you are expecting them!

Quoted message said:

Use a spam program such as K9, Spampal or Mailwasher if the
spam problem is really bad.

Mailwasher is currently killing 150 ish spam emails a day on
my address. Wanadoo (freeserve) are now doing spam filtering
that puts *** SPAM *** at the start of the subject line.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the
"Westminster Gasworks"
95/284 5/219 c.100/300 (>900m with drop>100m )