General Chat

Have also had (last night) 'your music' and (today) "'ello". Have just had live updates, so hopefully that may now stop them getting through - have to wait and see. Maz. XX

Hi Malcolm I have never recieved a mail that looked odd before, and I must admit it was so tempting to open it especially when it said 'your software' I went to the bbc website and found out about the different virus's and there was a list of the different subject headings and 'your software' was there I think it was the netski d one, I can understand why so many people open them because they do so look like normal friendly emails. But I am so glad of your tip for the pif on the end. Thanks Debbie

Hi Debbie Glad to have helped. Another mail came from US about an hour ago. My son says that the virus attaches itself and sends itself to all the address's in your address book. He was warned about it at work. Take care Malcolm

Ive also had 6 in the last 3 days, Netsky B and D also Beagle, there is an iten about these viruses in the technology section of BBC news online.

3 e-mails have been quarantined tonight by my Norton. Thank God we have it! Subjects included the following words document, software, bill, doc, details - and variations on same. Make sure you keep your preview screen OFF as they don't all seem to have attachments!! As usual, if in doubt - then delete, and make sure the subject on any e-mails you send is very clear - to the point of being long-winded ! Maz. XX

I have just had one from St francis Hospice in the email it said here is your software. didnt open the attachement, but just read what Malcolm said, and just done one click on the paper clip and sure enough it had Pif on the end. Debbie

Hi Elaine I know this is of no help but BDO Stoy Hayward is a firm of special managers/liquidators. They were sent in to manage a company we were doing some work for that went bust. I've had a few emails from what seem to be legitimate addresses but knowing that I haven't contacted them in the first place I have just deleted them. Jeanette

Hi everyone Two mails in 2 days from the US both containing attachments. The attachments were named 'My details' and 'my family details'. As I was not expecting any mails from the US I didn't open them. I got my 18 year old son to have a look and he told me they both contained a virus. On asking how he knew he showed me that by clicking on the paperclip to bring up the attachment details it showed the name of the attachment followed by pif. He told me never to open any attachment that has 'pif' after the title. So if you haven't got a teenage son to keep your computer virus free take great care of what you open. Malcolm

As well as the above it is now considered good practice to send an e-mail to advise someone when you are going to send them an attachment. That way they will be expecting it. Bob

Hi Elaine, There are a lot of "address-spoofing" viruses going around at the moment. What happens is that they use the address book on an infected machine to send an email to random people pretending to be from other people in the address book (not the owner of the machine). If a virus-checker blocks one of these emails, it sends the notification back to the "pretend" originator who knows nothing about it in the first place, rather than the owner of the infected machine. Nasty things viruses ! Just to echo what everyone else has said - if in doubt, don't open it, just delete it. Rick.

If you don't recognise, delete or better still download mailwasher and bounce. I also had one with the excel file which mailwasher marked as possible virus. I have had to teach my hubby how to use mailwasher, and he is a lecturer in IT. Ros

Just this morning I received two emails (luckily)! The first was from the UK and said 'RE:XL file' and the sender had a name I could possibly be in contact with sending me family tree info. The second was from a hotmail ad. and said 'Re: Word file.' Both had the same number of KB's. I am NOT expecting a word file or an XL file from anyone. I might have opened the XL file - if I had not seen the Word file as well. I guess they are probably spam mail but could contain virus..better be safe than soooory!

I've had things like this and had a word with my ISP and they told me that other people pickup email address 'from somewhere' and use them to send out stuff under your name. When I get a return message, I just delete them. It doesn't happen very often but I would love to know how "they" get hold of email addresses. It is a real pain. Nes

William I have deleted it. I KNOW i havent sent an email to that address & I dont know how to add an attatchment....sad ! I'm just worried if anyone else gets one like this & clicks on the email to reply...you never know ! Elaine :o)

I have just recieved an email, which I think mey be another virus._____________________________________________ Its from mailsweeper at bdo dot co dot uk,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, SUBJECT....Warning________________________________ It reads:- _________________ Your email to (email address) has been blocked by BDO Stoy Hayward.______________ This is because it has broken a content filter rule due to a virus.File attatchment or profanity. The intended recipient has not recieved the email. If the content is business related please contact the intended recipient directly... ( the email address in blue to be clicked upon)------------------ Well Iv'e never sent an email to the person or address stated,...It's the first time iv'e ever seen the address ! Am I right in deleting this, could this be another virus ? There was no attatchment with this one............. Elaine x