I am receiving some 20 e-mails DAILY from Microsoft Support, etc, with all sorts of attachments, the most common one being a "Windows Patch". I know they are not legitimate patches and I would LOVE to know how to STOP these annoying emails from comming in! Could it mean that someone who has my email address is infected big time or what?

I think it randomly generates addresses to send to.

I feel your pain. My Hotmail box is getting slammed by dozens of 144KB messages. At least they get shuttled into the Bulk Mail folder, but they still eat into my 2MB space.

See: w32.swen.a@mm information

Edited to remove page size distortion caused by long URL.

[This message was edited by Dwight on 09-24-03 at 08:44 PM.]

yup. That's the bugger (w32.swen@mm). I've now got to clean my Hotmail EVERYDAY (Junk Folder) as I'm getting a grand total of about 1 mb of these!!

I think these programs somehow transmit VALID e-mail addresses in their code to other infected machines, thereby creating a massive database.

In my view; you clean an infected PC so that machine will no longer send out emails but the worm continues to arrive from other newly infected machines! I say this because not many people have my email address and I have warned all those who do.

So if it's exponential then what? It's mind boggling to think about how much bandwith is and will be consumed by these pests in the near future!

For those who are reading this and suddenly realize that you were duped into installing the fake "patch". There are free cleaning utilities available.

From Symantec (makers of Norton)
w32 swen Removal Tool

From Grisoft (makers of AVG)
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_remtext.php?id=swen <sub>Edited to remove long URL.

[This message was edited by Dwight on 09-24-03 at 08:46 PM.]</sub>

Is this the same thing as the W32 welchia virus? My dad's wife just had norton virus protection installed on Sunday and now she's got this virus. She can't hardly do anything on the laptop at all. Will this work for her, JW?

quote:

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Originally posted by puppyblues:
Is this the same thing as the W32 welchia virus? My dad's wife just had norton virus protection installed on Sunday and now she's got this virus. She can't hardly do anything on the laptop at all. Will this work for her, JW?

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No, what I mentioned above won't work for that virus. What you need to do is download this windows patch, then downlaod a special Welchia removal tool.

Also, if the virus is on her computer after installing Norton AntiVirus, either the program did not install correctly, or she did not complete the install to include the "Live Update" portion. Norton should have recognized and prevented the infection.

Dwight

Okay, I, too am getting the emails, but when I run NA, it comes up clean, and LiveUpdate shows that I have nothing to update. So, is my computer infected? Or, is it that someone who has my email address has an infected computer and is sending me this junk?
If my computer is not infected, I think the only way for me to rid my computer of this is to close my Yahoo account, and open a new one. It has not affected my msn account.

will someone please read my rely post to this subject? I don't want to run the removal tool if there is no virus on my pc. I get these emails in my Yahoo account, but not in my hotmail/msn, or OutLook Express.
I checked the reports in NA, it shows no quarantined or deleted items.
thanks, lv

Howdy LVLF:

You aren't infected.. someone else is ..

Murray

thanks, Murray. So what are my options? Do I need to cancel the Yahoo account and open a new one?

LV:

You could but that would be extreme.. and, there is no guarantee you won't start getting them there as well if an infected system gets your new email addy !!

Murray

thanks

GO here
And download STINGER..save to the desktop and run it....I have NORTON and AVG...but this catches and removes the best of them,small download and fits on a floppy carry it around,to check other machines.

Does not have an update just need to re-download every couple of weeks,saved my bacon a few times already.

Also have you Mailwasher?,head em off at the pass...and bounce em back.

Thanks, Bazcaz.