*Email hacked*

[Suz]

I woke up to 52 emails this morning. Many bouncebacks but many with my board friends' email addresses in them.

I couldn't access my email for several hours yesterday afternoon and I figure that's when someone must have had their jollies and gotten in there. How do they do it? It is infuriating!

I'm sorry to bother you guys. I wish I'd heard from you because of better circumstances- lol! I know I've received these kinds of goofy emails many times but you still feel stupid when you're the one unknowingly sending out the spam.

Anyway, I deleted the emails in my mailbox this morning without reading them and changed my password. I checked my Norton antivirus and it said that everything was fine (?). Should I do anything else?

If you were sending me a chatty email instead of a "Suz, do you know your email was spammed?" email, please re-send it!

Suz

 

[busywend]

I just got your email - it was nice to hear from you I know bad joke...I deleted it. All it was was a link to something. And I NEVER go to links from an email.

I do not know what else to do. It seems if your Norton gave a clear message you should be OK, but I would message Runawaybunny to know for sure.

Sorry you got hacked!

 

[DDD]

I got it. I didn't open it. Hope the problem goes away. I had to hire the computer dude to get rid of what hit my computer a few months ago. Hugs DDD

 

[Nancy]

I got it too and deleted without opening. This is the second one I got this week and the first one I opened but didn't click on the link. I deleted it, ran a scan and they said everythign was fine. I'm pretty sure by changing your password you are safe. I have learned not to open any links or videos that are posted anywhere even if I know the person, unless they personally send it to me and tell me it's ok.

Nancy

 

[Hound dog]

I just plain don't open emails that state No Subject in the title line. I've been spammed by Nichole and Katie's old emails and know what to look for. I just delete them instead.

 

[Star*]

You never email me so problem solved. ROFL! Sorry you had problems though! Hope your day gets better! Hugs! Hows the Grandbaby & Family?

 

[susiestar]

I am sorry. That is so frustrating, isn't it? Starting yesterday morning, every time I try to open my email I end up at a site that I have a toolbar for. I am NOT clicking on the toolbar but typing n the email site and still I get directed to the wrong place. I also cannot get rid of the toolbar - have tried every trick and direction I can find. I finally sent a message to the co that has the toolbar to get them to tell me how to get rid of it.

This makes me wonder if something happened on the net yesterday that is doing strange things to lots of people. I have never had anything like this happen before, and haven't been to any sites I don't normally go to. My antivirus and antispyware/malware programs are up to date nad scanning normally with no signs of trouble, so it seems strange to me.

 

[Giulia]

I am sorry. That is so frustrating, isn't it? Starting yesterday morning, every time I try to open my email I end up at a site that I have a toolbar for. I am NOT clicking on the toolbar but typing n the email site and still I get directed to the wrong place. I also cannot get rid of the toolbar - have tried every trick and direction I can find. I finally sent a message to the co that has the toolbar to get them to tell me how to get rid of it.

This makes me wonder if something happened on the net yesterday that is doing strange things to lots of people. I have never had anything like this happen before, and haven't been to any sites I don't normally go to. My antivirus and antispyware/malware programs are up to date nad scanning normally with no signs of trouble, so it seems strange to me.

Susie, what you are describing to me is a symptom of a malware, probably a spyware.
It's not because your security software said that it's fine that it is really fine. You have probably caught a malware which is not into their scanning repertory (a bit like if you were catching a new virus or a new bacteria, and your body were not recognizing it as a virus or bacteria).

So if I were you, I would switch to Linux.
You can still have your photos, Powerpoints, Word documents and such. But if you catch a malware (virus, trojan, spyware), it won't be active and won't create the problems you have on your computer now.
It's much easier to use, even for the most technophobic person in the world !! (I switched a GP's computer on Linux because he had no money to buy a new one, and after the first few weeks with the heavoc of finding equivalent software, learning the system and such, he is happy to be able to work without worrying too much about data safety. The only thing is that he was on Mac OS for years, so switching from Mac OS to Linux is more difficult than switching from Windows to Linux....). If you know how to use a Windows computer, then, using a Linux computer will be not as difficult as you may think.


No no, it's not too good to be true, it is because the system architecture is very different. Windows works on a registry base, so as soon as you catch a malware, it destroys the whole system. Linux has a root system which asks a password every time you want to change it : if a malware gets introduced in the system, the password system blocks it unless you type the password. Linux is made on such a way that destroying the system with a malware is nearly impossible.

The plus side in such a period of crisis is that you can have an office suite (LibreOffice), a graphic software equivalent and even better than Photoshop free of charge (GIMP), a superb email client (among them, Thunderbird by Mozilla, definitely my favorite email client), a multimedia reader (the most popular is VLC), video editor, even some games.... all of this free of charge.
No no, it's not too good to be true, it's the open source magic
So, you save something like 1000$.
Even your old computer will resuscitate on Linux, because it uses less CPU and less disk space.

I switched all the home computers on Linux two years and a half ago, and even if I were paid billions of dollars for a lifetime, I definitely stay on my Ubuntu system.
Even my mother, who grumped all the time at the beginning, wished she could switch on Linux with her job computer (she cannot do it at the moment because she needs a software for her job, software whom has no equivalent in the open source world).

 

[LittleDudesMom]

*I got one, deleted it before opening! Happened to me last year and I think you got a sexy email from me!!!!!!

 

[InsaneCdn]

If you know how to use a Windows computer, then, using a Linux computer will be not as difficult as you may think.

Ever wonder why?

The guts of Windows design (not necessarily current code, but it was in the early versions, and the conventions were maintained) came from DOS. And DOS was based on... Unix.

All the ctrl-chars? Unix. ctrl-c = copy, etc. So many other conventions etc.... all unix. Except our good friends at MS dropped some of the best ones along the way... oh well.

Apple-based stuff... didn't start with unix brains, somehow. Don't know WHAT they started with... but it's a different "mind-set".

 

[Suz]

Long day. Board meeting in another county and I just got home. I stopped home to let the dogs out this afternoon and started a full Norton scan. It ran while I was gone and said it captured some stuff so hopefully it captured the bad guy that was interfering.

What a PITA!

Thanks everyone.

Suz

 

[Kathy813]

Well, I didn't get one and my feelings are hurt.



~Kathy

 

[Suz]

Kathy:

 

[Giulia]

Ever wonder why?

The guts of Windows design (not necessarily current code, but it was in the early versions, and the conventions were maintained) came from DOS. And DOS was based on... Unix.

All the ctrl-chars? Unix. ctrl-c = copy, etc. So many other conventions etc.... all unix. Except our good friends at MS dropped some of the best ones along the way... oh well.

True and not true.

Because some Linux distros don't use the usual Windows conventions, for example Fedora, Mandriva...
I use a Ubuntu distro. I tried Fedora, Mint, Debian, but I still prefer the Ubuntu distro (much easier to get the MS fonts, easier to set up the languages keyboards, you can choose between Unity, Gnome Shell, Cairo Dock...).
Mom grumped a lot about Ubuntu, but she is now used to it and she is happy not to catch any kind of malware on the computer.

Apple-based stuff... didn't start with unix brains, somehow. Don't know WHAT they started with... but it's a different "mind-set".

Humm, Apple is also based on Unix, but it turned out to be a different mind-set.
The only Apple stuff I use is my iphone.

For a laptop, even paying me billions of € won't make me change my mind.

And the Freebox (the triple play box for telephone, Internet and TV) is based on a Linux firmware (dixit the tech).

 

[rejectedmom]

I didn't get one either...I feel so left out LOL. -RM