WARNING HOTMAIL VIRUS

3eighty

A virus has been placed on hotmail..DO NOT open any mail that says Postmaster Delivery Fail Notice...AND be very sure a mail from a known friend is real..Virus is taking mailing list and sending out false mail..Im trying to find out what to do about this...

watkins

I did a quick Google and found this advice.

"Well, I emailed Microsoft and this was there reply to my problem and there
solution:

Thank you for writing to Windows Live Hotmail Customer Support. This is Paul
and I gather that you received failed mail delivery notifications from e-mail
messages you have not sent. I understand how important it is for you to have
your issue addressed immediately.

We apologize for the delay in answering your e-mail. We appreciate your
patience as we handle every customer request as quickly as possible.

Someone has forged your e-mail address as the "reply-to" or "from" field on
a piece of unsolicited e-mail. This does not require the person to log into
the account. For security, do not open the notification message or any
attachment that came with the notification message. Some malicious computer
users use fake failed-delivery notifications to spread computer viruses. Make
sure your virus-scanning software is up to date and scheduled to run daily to
help prevent computer virus infections.

Sometimes, individuals forge message headers to suggest that the messages
originated with Windows Live or Hotmail e-mail. Additionally, these
"spammers" may use similar fake "reply-to" accounts, "remove me" accounts,
and other types of drop boxes in the headers, in the body of messages, on Web
pages, in Web forms, or in postings such as newsgroups. This is a very
difficult practice to guard against, but it is one that we will continue to
prevent.

Some individuals sending unsolicited e-mail use bulk e-mail programs that
forge headers onto the e-mail message. Some of these programs combine the
sender's account name or e-mail address with another domain name to try and
make it appear more authentic. This bypasses the filters because the message
appears to originate from the recipient's own account. They also try to
trick people by taking the name of the recipient's account and forging it
into the header with another domain name to try and make it appear more
authentic.

I would like to assure you that this is what happened to you and that the
sender did not break into your account. Your account name is unique and no
two Windows Live Hotmail users have the same account name.

If you continue to receive messages from the postmaster@hotmail.com about
e-mail that you did not send, I recommend that you disregard the message. If
you receive other bounce messages, I suggest that you filter them by doing
the following steps:

Sign in to your Windows Live Hotmail account.
Click on "Options" then select "More Options."
Click on "Automatically sort e-mail into folders."
Click "New filter."
Under step 1: Which messages are you looking for?
From the first drop-down box select "Subject."
From the second drop-down list, choose "Contains."
In the third text box, type the subject of the bounce message.
Under "Step 2: Where do you want to put these messages?" Select a
folder to which you want your messages delivered. You can also choose to
delete incoming messages.
Click "Save" to save your settings.

You can add more filters to increase the Custom Filter's effectiveness. Type
a different word in the text box (step so that unsolicited e-mail with
various subjects will be captured.

Windows Live Hotmail recognizes the sensitivity, security and privacy of
your account information. I have outlined several ways to help you enhance
your account's protection:

I. I recommend that you change your password as well as your secret
question and answer regularly to increase the privacy of your account. You
can use several combinations of letter cases and numbers to make your
password harder to decode.

II. Properly log out of your account after your Windows Live Hotmail
session by clicking the "Sign Out" button above your screen.

III. If you are using a public terminal, I suggest that you clear your
temporary Internet files (cache) and close the browser that you are using
when you are ready to end your Internet session.

For Internet Explorer:

From the "Tools" menu, select "Internet Options".
On the "General" tab, under "Temporary Internet Files," click on "Delete
Cookies" then click on "OK."
Click on "Delete Files." Put a checkmark on the "Delete all offline
content" radio button, and then click on "OK."

For other browsers, please refer to the Help files of your browser.

IV. Be sure not to click "Remember me on this computer (?)" and "Remember
my password (?)" at the Windows Live Hotmail Sign-in page if you are using a
public computer or if there are other people using your computer. Enabling
this feature will allow users to automatically sign in to their account and
bypass the username and password authentication portion.

We appreciate your continued support as we strive to provide you with the
highest quality service available. Thank you for using Windows Live Hotmail."

Hope this helps,

Bob

olishea

same happened to me. someone used my account to send out information about discount clothes. just change your password to be safe. make sure it includes letters and numbers.

Tobobo

yeah me to, i changed my password and it stopped, lucky Apple are to stuffy to allow me to open viruses on my Iphone

Gaieus

I got two spammy emails from the accounts of two, well known and really trustworthy forum regulars here. Both were gmail addresses however (maybe already infected).

Rich O Brien

I got attacked on my gmail account last month. Had to jump through hoops to get it sorted

Must be only the really influential folks getting fingered!