Spyware, viruses, & security forum: Someone is using my e-mail addy to spam-is it a virus?

I hesitated opening the e-mail, and when I did, I got a ballon message saying "this page contains both secure and nonsecure items. Do you want to display the nonsecure items?". I cringed, then did a sys. restore point in case something bad happened, then I opened it. Here it is.

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From: mack4valve@earthlink.net
To: mack4valve@earthlink.net
Subject: RE: Message 91420
Date: Jan 13, 2009 10:25 PM

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As far as I know, I have never signed up for MSN featured offers.
Your thoughts, please.

Thank you for the certifiedbug.com link! I am not the only one with this problem. I have changed e-mail addresses and I hope all will be o.k. I will be downloading Mailwasher and give it a spin. I am concerned that the certifiedbug.com link showed Avira as catching this crap,but my Avast didn't. Should I switch? I pride myself in using safe practices when checking e-mails and do not fall for the "click on link to unsubscribe" scam or click on links which I do not recognize as being from someone I know. I guess spammers are pretty smart for bottom feeders. Thanks for the education.

I have got the same problems with Microsoft emails.
A few weeks ago, I accepted Microsoft emails thinking there would be telling me news as well as updates.
Half of my emails are now from Microsoft that I see as span.
I live in Perth West Australia, and, the Australian law states: No ISP company can advertise a 3rd party.
I don't know what the law is in the USA.
But, I wonder why Microsoft the leading internet provider has to send out these emails.
Is Microsoft getting a kick back from the companies that Microsoft sends it's emails from?
Something to think about?
It looks like Microsoft is getting a very bad name for it self!!

I was getting the same thing. They are not from Microsoft, they are phishing emails often using your address to create legitimacy. When you hit the unsubscribe or update or any other link, or photo you can launch or unload their vicious payload.

If they are using your email address, refer to my posting above to contact your isp, or just go into their filter, move or add your own address into the BLOCKED sender list, instead of ALLOWED. Send yourself a test email, you should still get it, but theirs will stop.

My niece and nephew both fell victim to an "update" email from "Microsoft" and got that nasty virus/malware that hijacked their browser and caused my brother HOURS of grief with paid Tech support at Gateway to rid their systems. Microsoft will not send you emails unless you had requested it on Msoft Live Mail or other, and even then they won't be about updates, just offerings or info. Msft will NEVER send you emails to update Windows or IE. they use the Automatic Updater specifically for that purpose and your own security.

Assuming you regularly do AV, spyware, etc. scans, then your email addy was probably gathered from someone else's machine who is not so careful. The purpose of a lot of malware is just this, to gather email addys from unprotected machines and phone them home as the opportunity presents. Then they are used both as a false FROM: address as well as a TO: address for spam. If your addy is used often enough as a FROM:, it could get you blackballed from some mail systems (but I think the mail would actually have to be sent via your mail service, not just have your name on it). Not much you can do about what happens on someone else's machine - just remind your friends to use some good security software regularly and to learn how to use BCC: (blind carbon copy) on the email they send, so that you don't potentially send long lists of valid addresses to potentially compromised machines. And don't forward mail with long lists of openly visible addresses to others: copy the content to another message instead and BCC: your list of TO: addresses on that.

.bh.

method unsavory characters have developed to send spam by commandeering you email address and sending this junk.

Best I can determine this is not actually sent from your email but rather your address is substituted as sender by the spammer.

Little can be done about it... just delete them and move on. Gmail's spam filter seems to be catching all of these. Free MailWasher is useful for my ISP address but little few of these are received. I am careful who gets that address.

Glenn

Glenn