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Am I a Spam Zombie?
ReallyCurious asks: "Recently, I've noticed a lot of junk email in my inbox reporting 'Mail delivery failure' or 'Undeliverable'. Some of these had documents attached, so I figured this was just a worm variant. But these messages keep coming. I worry that my machine has been turned into a 'Spam Zombie'. I don't see any suspicious processes running, but maybe it only runs for a few seconds, and at irregular times. I run a Windows 98 laptop, sometimes wirelessly connected to broadband (a few hours a day, on average), but I had to remove my virus software years ago because it was locking my system up, so I'm wide open. I've tried to be a good citizen and have been shopping for new virus software, but prices are running $40-$70, and most of these are just for upgrades (not even counting the mandatory 'subscriptions')! Is there an open or free virus fighting solution that's reliable and available for Windows? I'd be happy to run it ASAP."
The bounces you're getting are from other spam using you as the From address. Spam sent from your machine would have random addresses not necessarily your own. But you might still have a trojan running that could be used to send spam so you should check.
What makes you think you're going to get delivery failures for outgoing spam? If you're a spam zombie, I doubt it is going out with your email in the from: field.
We should never insult folks for asking "stupid" questions, but rather admire the courage it took to ask.
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
Exactly. Email worms and spammers frequently forge the sender. The problem is clueless mail adminitrators that configure their mail relays to accept mail to anyone (even unknown users) and then generate a bounce message when it can't be delivered (user unknown...) All scanning (spam and AV) and user verification really needs to be performed at initial SMTP reception and not after the fact.
Unfortunately, older versions of Exchange are stupid in this respect, and accept pretty much anything. I believe you even have to specifically configure the newer versions of exchange too to behave correctly (someone correct me if I'm wrong here... I no longer use exchange, just read about how 2003 works...)
IMHO, if you are running an older version of exchange without a good Unix relay in front of it that can do all this validation and scanning for you, you are a big part of the problem.
OK. I'm a dual booting guy. Obviously my linux, which I use mostly, has no problems. However, my windows install also has no problems. I only got a virus once ever because after a clean XP install a worm got to me before I got to windowsupdate.
The point is that you do NOT need anti-virus software. Anti-virus anti-spyware software should be used only to cleanup already busted systems. Your system cannot be infected if you take proper care to prevent it. Even if you are running windows on a cable modem all day.
1) NEVER download an e-mail attachment.
2) Use Firefox instead of IE.
3) Use Thunderbird instead of Outlook
4) Do NOT visit untrustworthy websites
5) Do NOT download any software from the internet and install it. Even if it looks trusty from tucows or download.com do a google search to see if it it spyware first.
6) Have a firewall like zone alarm or sygate, or better have another computer between you and the net with a firewall on it. Or have a hardware firewall. Proper network level security keeps the worms out almost guaranteed.
7) If you have wireless lock it down. You don't want a drive by person to start sending spam out your pipe.
8) DO get all the windows updates that are security fixes. The ones that aren't security fixes you can choose to get or not get at your own discretion.
If you do those things then there is almost no way you can get hit. It's really that simple. And if you DO get hit, its usually easier to re-install due to the degrading nature of windows. Any windows install, even a clean one, falls apart over time. The registry fills with more and more junk. Improperly uninstalled apps leave files behind here and there. Hidden variables change and are not changed back. Even the cleanest installs seem to last at most 18 to 24 months except in very controlled business environments.
Dont pay for anti-virus software, its a ripoff. Just re-install and then take proper preventative measures so it doesn't happen again.
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