Mike, Kathy and Linda Rant About Spam, Viruses, and Porn
~~Mike Baynes, MikesWhatsNews
~~Kathryn
Jacobs, PowerPointAnswers
~~Linda F.
Johnson, Linda's Computer Stop
NOTE FROM LINDA:
This superfluous email problem we are all suffering from is getting
ridiculous. Two of the Fleet members sent me rants this month about
stuff that is happening and I want to share them with you, because they are
things that REALLY anger me, so here they are, along with my own rant at the
end.
From Mike:
Spam Arrest Is Just Another Form Of Spam
Well, I have reached the boiling point. I use many different
programs to try and prevent spam. I have Norton set to block certain
forms of spam, Mailwasher to identify and mark for deletion any email which
meets my filters, as well as Courier Email program's filters. I can
almost keep up.
But today the fit hit the shan! <G>
I started receiving replies to each message I posted to some Yahoo groups
indicating that some subscribers are using 'Spam Arrest' to pre filter
messages coming to them. It really aggravates me when someone
subscribes to one of my newsletters only to have 'Spam Arrest' block my
message and send me a notice that I must register with them. They are
not only wasting bandwidth, they are also generating more spam!
Here's
what they send me:
__________________________________
"You are receiving this message in
response to your email to Joewho@000.com, a Spam Arrest customer.
Spam Arrest requests that senders verify themselves before their email is
delivered.
When you click the above link, you will be taken to a page with a graphic on
it. Simply read the word in the graphic, type it into the form, and you're
verified.
You will only need to do this once per Spam Arrest customer.
Webmasters help stop spam and make 50%.
http://spamarrest.com/affiliates "
__________________________________
The concept is good as it allows users to filter all incoming email, but I
have to wonder what will happen to the list of names they gather. In
the past some companies have failed and in an attempt to recover some of
their expenses have sold there database to other companies. When this
happens, the original security that the programs have offered is bypassed
and ignored by the new owners of the data.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Mike Baynes is the
editor of
MikesWhatsNews
. To subscribe, send a blank email to
mikeswhatsnews-request@freelists.org?Subject=subscribe
See Mike's Anti-Virus pages ~
http://virusinfo.hackfix.org.
To subscribe, send a blank email to:
virusinfo-request@freelists.org?Subject=subscribe
From Kathy:
This morning, a copy of swen was sent to the JFW list. This means that
the thing has branched out of its usual address gathering system and moved
to the groups and lists as well. With this being the case, I thought I would
forward you my summary of how to tell if an email came from MS. I am so sick
of this thing that I could shoot someone. I am back to getting tons each
day. I can’t do any newsgroup work because it has totally trashed the public
servers.
Just in case you don’t know:
This is a virus called Swen. Microsoft never sends attachments in
their emails. If you get an email claiming to be from Microsoft that
has an attachment, don’t trust it. It did not come from Microsoft.
I would like to point out some of the triggers that this is not from
Microsoft:
1) “Microsoft Consumer” – If it were from Microsoft, you would either be
addressed by name or by the category under which Microsoft got your name.
2) Bad capitalization and grammar – Microsoft notes are written by excellent
writers, these kinds of errors rarely show up in their notes
3) Microsoft sends out notes by product group. Since IE, Outlook, and OE are
in different product groups, you are not going to see one note for all three
4) Microsoft notes that refer you to more information will send you to a
specific page in the knowledge base or security area. Not to a generic URL.
5) The copyright information is not in the style Microsoft uses. Check out
any page on Microsoft’s site and you will see the real one.
I hope you find this useful.
Kathryn Jacobs,
Microsoft MVP, PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at
http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Get OneNote answers at
http://www.onenoteanswers.com/
Cook anything outdoors with
http://www.outdoorcook.com
Kathy is a trainer, writer, Girl Scout, parent, and whatever else there is
time for.
I believe life is meant to be lived. But, if we live without
making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived.
From Linda:
First, let me agree with Mike about Spam Arrest. I dread
sending out this newsletter because, when I do, I KNOW I will then receive
hundreds of emails from Spam Arrest telling me I have to register with them
a hundred different times in order for these people to receive the
newsletter. I'll be DARNED if I'm going to do that!! If people
choose to use this program, then they can figure out on THEIR end how to set
ABC as "friendly". If they can't figure it out, then they just won't
receive ABC. That is not MY responsibility. And another rant I
have....how come lately about 20% of the spam I'm getting is from companies
trying to sell me their anti-spam software? What is UP with that?
LOL
And, in response to Kathy's rant....all I can say is,
people better start keeping their anti-virus software up to date because the
viruses are starting to look more and more convincing. PLEASE practice
safe cyber!
And, now onto my own rant...
Lately I'm seeing more and more spam mail, as well as viruses, that
appear to be coming from me. Now, I know how the virus/worms work and
how they grab my email address from the address book in an infected machine
and then send themselves to half the world, masquerading as me and this
really irritates me. But now, the spammers are doing it too. Grrrrr
They are using my email address to send out everything from inkjet cartridge
ads to naked pictures they claim are of me. People are either emailing
me for information about my inkjet ad, or asking me for a date (LOL).
Let me tell you all RIGHT NOW....I don't mail out advertisements and I DON'T
have naked pictures of myself anywhere on the internet. This is a case
of email hijacking.
Please, please, please remember when you receive viruses and/or spam
and/or porn, be VERY careful about reporting the sender to any abuse
reporting places, cuz there's a VERY good possibility the email did NOT come
from the person you are reporting! VIEW THE FULL HEADER on the mail
before you report some innocent party, and if you DO forward mail onto an
abuse service, be sure to include the FULL header so they can see where the
email really originated. If you don't know how to view
full headers,
read this previous article from ABC Protect the innocent ..
Please.
Linda Johnson is a
college instructor of all of the Microsoft Office Programs, as well
as Adobe PhotoShop and Windows. She also teaches online distance
learning classes in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word at
Eclectic Academy. She has worked helpdesk and teaches
and lectures at many local businesses and tech schools in her area. Support this
newsletter by checking out Linda's eBooks, MS Word MAGIC!, Book
I: Fonts, Fun & Formats and Book
II: Table Wizardry,
How
To Get Started As a Software Trainer, and
her newest series of MSOffice
eBook Tutorials and CD
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