Why is my computer sending viruses? at DVinfo.net

Alfred Okocha · November 17th, 2004, 05:38 PM

Totally OT, I know but at least here are several fellow mac users.. My computer seems to suffer of some kind of virus.. It keeps sending (without me seeing when) out viruses to people..
How can I get rid of this? I use 10.3.6 and entourage. I have a Norton virus thing but that hasn't detected anything..

My computer works fine otherwise..

Thanks.

Graeme Nattress · November 17th, 2004, 09:02 PM

Your computer is most probably not sending out viruses.

What is happening is this: you email someone, and they are using a PC. They get a virus and it looks through their emails. It sees your name and address and then sends out a virus pretending to come from you, to confuse people and to make them open the attached virus thinking it's from a trusted person -you!

Graeme

Vic Owen · November 17th, 2004, 11:29 PM

Alfred --

Second what Graeme said. To my knowledge, there are no known OS-X viruses floating around out there.

Alfred Okocha · November 18th, 2004, 04:15 AM

Ahh, thanks for that info. That was nice to hear! I get around 5-7 virus-emails (or what I think is, type, Hello.. pics.. or "the doc you asked for..) do you get the same amount?

Thanks.

Keith Loh · November 18th, 2004, 01:11 PM

Use a Spam filter and garbage all of those.

I use Mailwasher which allows me to quickly scan all of my incoming mail for false-positives (totally necessary for business environment), keep the ones I want (white-listing) and throw the rest into a whole. Mailwasher is a bit different than most because it shows you the messages before they come into your mail program inbox so you don't clutter your own program with the dross.

Imran Zaidi · November 18th, 2004, 01:20 PM

Email spoofing doesn't really have to do with either Macs or PCs or even viruses. All that happens is that unscrupulous spammers out there have your email address, and when they send out stuff, they attach random emails to them as the sender. You, along with most everyone these days, seem to be sending out things that you never actually did. And when the receiver replies, or if their virus software auto-replies, it of course comes to you.

If the receiver of such emails looks at the header info of each email, I'm sure they'll find that the sending IP address was definitely not you.

Alfred Okocha · November 18th, 2004, 03:18 PM

I do use a junk filter but you still have to check if something useful got sorted as "junk".. Maybe I check the "Mailwasher" out.

Thanks for clearing that up everybody!

Dan Uneken · November 20th, 2004, 07:44 AM

Is Mailwasher for Mac? The site says: "Windows 95, 98, NT 4, ME, 2000 or XP".

November 17th, 2004, 05:38 PM	#1
Alfred Okocha Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: London Posts: 427	Why is my computer sending viruses? Totally OT, I know but at least here are several fellow mac users.. My computer seems to suffer of some kind of virus.. It keeps sending (without me seeing when) out viruses to people.. How can I get rid of this? I use 10.3.6 and entourage. I have a Norton virus thing but that hasn't detected anything.. My computer works fine otherwise.. Thanks.

November 17th, 2004, 09:02 PM	#2
Graeme Nattress RED Problem Solver Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Ottawa, Canada Posts: 1,365	Your computer is most probably not sending out viruses. What is happening is this: you email someone, and they are using a PC. They get a virus and it looks through their emails. It sees your name and address and then sends out a virus pretending to come from you, to confuse people and to make them open the attached virus thinking it's from a trusted person -you! Graeme __________________ www.nattress.com - filters for FCP

November 17th, 2004, 11:29 PM	#3
Vic Owen Major Player Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 540	Alfred -- Second what Graeme said. To my knowledge, there are no known OS-X viruses floating around out there. __________________ -- Vic Owen --

November 18th, 2004, 01:11 PM	#5
Keith Loh Air China Pilot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 2,389	Use a Spam filter and garbage all of those. I use Mailwasher which allows me to quickly scan all of my incoming mail for false-positives (totally necessary for business environment), keep the ones I want (white-listing) and throw the rest into a whole. Mailwasher is a bit different than most because it shows you the messages before they come into your mail program inbox so you don't clutter your own program with the dross. __________________ -- Visit http://www.KeithLoh.com \| stuff about living in Vancouver \| My Flickr photo gallery

November 20th, 2004, 07:44 AM	#8
Dan Uneken Major Player Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Andalucia, Spain Posts: 301	Is Mailwasher for Mac? The site says: "Windows 95, 98, NT 4, ME, 2000 or XP". __________________ Film & TV locations & production Spain http://www.fotofilmvideo.com/

November 18th, 2004, 04:15 AM	#4
Alfred Okocha Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: London Posts: 427	Ahh, thanks for that info. That was nice to hear! I get around 5-7 virus-emails (or what I think is, type, Hello.. pics.. or "the doc you asked for..) do you get the same amount? Thanks.

November 18th, 2004, 01:20 PM	#6
Imran Zaidi Trustee Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 1,315	Email spoofing doesn't really have to do with either Macs or PCs or even viruses. All that happens is that unscrupulous spammers out there have your email address, and when they send out stuff, they attach random emails to them as the sender. You, along with most everyone these days, seem to be sending out things that you never actually did. And when the receiver replies, or if their virus software auto-replies, it of course comes to you. If the receiver of such emails looks at the header info of each email, I'm sure they'll find that the sending IP address was definitely not you.

November 18th, 2004, 03:18 PM	#7
Alfred Okocha Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: London Posts: 427	I do use a junk filter but you still have to check if something useful got sorted as "junk".. Maybe I check the "Mailwasher" out. Thanks for clearing that up everybody!