Heeeeelllllpppppp!!!!!!! Somebody please HELP!!!

Somebody is trying to hack onto our computers, email accounts, try to sign on, get a message allegedly from microsoft saying looks like somebody is trying to access your account, please verify that it's yours.

HOLY HAIL!!!!!

The email it's self is probably the hack. Do not use any links located inside the E-mail. Go directly to your accounts to change your passwords. This is known as Phishing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

It's a PITA when that happens, and it could also not be a message from Microsoft but a very devious way to get you to open the notice (whoops, too late) and respond to it........after which you may be doomed.

Here's what my friend did when that happened: Change all your passwords and email addresses. That means you'll be doing a lot of correspondence with everyone you know. While you're at it, be sure to tell them you're stranded in Somaliland will no tickets home and need money wired to you instantly

If all else fails, call Helper Guy, aka the Computer guy, and have him come over.

Ahhh shit, do you guys have any idea how many fricking contacts we have on both of our hotmail accounts? Hundreds and hundreds, plus we can't even get on the accounts because of the damned message.

Helperdude, help me please, I'll make that special casserole for you, ya know the recipe I gave you with all that yummy cheese. Oh yeah, I'll make it to go, I'm telling ya three days of yummy eating for two. Please call me.

He might not be reading this. PM him. That recipe might attract every techie on here, panting on your doorstep and eager for casserole.

You've got a point. It's one helluva casserole.

Problem solved, back in business. Microsoft made us change our passwords.

Sorry Helper guy, next time. I'm in a cocktail kinda mood right now, and not into cooking.

you get less spam if you stay off of the porn sites

hockables wrote:you get less spam if you stay off of the porn sites

Huh, I'm a granny Hocks. Five grandkids, what would they think? Ohhhh man Nana and Grampa sure had some fun. Or would they think YUCK!!!!

tictoc wrote:The email it's self is probably the hack. Do not use any links located inside the E-mail. Go directly to your accounts to change your passwords. This is known as Phishing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

And over time get off Hotmail or Yahoo mail. It is not going to get better.
I pay for my email and don't have any problems ever. I know it is inconvientent
but with these two services you will have bad things happen eventually.

Z

Zedinmexico wrote:

tictoc wrote:The email it's self is probably the hack. Do not use any links located inside the E-mail. Go directly to your accounts to change your passwords. This is known as Phishing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

And over time get off Hotmail or Yahoo mail. It is not going to get better.
I pay for my email and don't have any problems ever. I know it is inconvientent
but with these two services you will have bad things happen eventually.

Z

Good point Zed. Who do you recommend, and how much is the service? I really dislike hotmail after yesterday's episode.

I never get spam on my gmail account.

viajero wrote:I never get spam on my gmail account.

We did a large emailing on our gmail account last week. No end of trouble. I'd never use them again. In fact the big guy disabled the gmail that came on my computer.

E-raq wrote:

Zedinmexico wrote:

tictoc wrote:The email it's self is probably the hack. Do not use any links located inside the E-mail. Go directly to your accounts to change your passwords. This is known as Phishing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

And over time get off Hotmail or Yahoo mail. It is not going to get better.
I pay for my email and don't have any problems ever. I know it is inconvientent
but with these two services you will have bad things happen eventually.

Z

Good point Zed. Who do you recommend, and how much is the service? I really dislike hotmail after yesterday's episode.

Like others here for a free service I suggest Google Gmail. Least evil of the bunch but still partially evil LOL.

My family has a UNIX box server that we use for our email and we buy the service in Seattle. We pay by the
year and for the space. Includes backup service for data on server. Only problem with an obscure domain some
badly designed or implemented security software thinks you are a spam domain when you are not. Not a huge
problem. I don't know the specific service my family uses as my sister owns the domain and account but pay
mail and server accounts on pro run systems are widely available and most are very good as they get money from
you so they have a reason to talk to you. I also use a few gmail accounts for filtered communications and find it
quite good. It is all my wife uses and she has not complained about it after ditching her outlook account.

Never done mailings so I don't know what E-raq went through. Most people who use gmail find it OK for a freebie.

Remember folks you get what you pay for.

Z

GMail is the best of the online mail services. You can triple your protection by using an email "client" to get it (eg. Live Mail, Thunderbird, PostBox). I believe that the favorite hacking method is online, spyware key-logging software, wherein while you have a browser window open, the spyware can be active and recording your keystrokes... so it doesn't matter how often you change your password.

Using a mail client, your email is downloaded and is afforded extra protection built into the software. More importantly, you don't type in your password to use it, so keylogging software... should it be running... can't see it and grab it.

The bonus? When you go away, you can still use your Gmail at gmail.com anytime, and when you come back home, it is still all in your client, so you don't lose anything.

hockables wrote:you get less spam if you stay off of the porn sites

The two safest type of sites to visit are porn sites, and well-known online gambling sites. Their reputation rides on being safe and private, so they have very strong implementations of security measures. However, that doesn't mean one can willy-nilly click on everything they advertise. Common sense must prevail.

E-raq wrote:Problem solved, back in business. Microsoft made us change our passwords. Sorry Helper guy, next time. I'm in a cocktail kinda mood right now, and not into cooking.

Doesn't seem to matter when I turn off the computer for a break, something always happens. Sorry I missed you this time.

HelperGuy wrote:GMail is the best of the online mail services. You can triple your protection by using an email "client" to get it (eg. Live Mail, Thunderbird, PostBox). I believe that the favorite hacking method is online, spyware key-logging software, wherein while you have a browser window open, the spyware can be active and recording your keystrokes... so it doesn't matter how often you change your password.

Using a mail client, your email is downloaded and is afforded extra protection built into the software. More importantly, you don't type in your password to use it, so keylogging software... should it be running... can't see it and grab it.

The bonus? When you go away, you can still use your Gmail at gmail.com anytime, and when you come back home, it is still all in your client, so you don't lose anything.

Thanks, Will do that, I'm really tired of these problems and we need to do some fairly large emailings.

So HelperGuy what is the best way to see if you have these keystroke recorders?
I mean I run the normal anti trojan stuff but is more needed like once a month?

Z

Everything Helperguy said is true and I second it. I would also suggest uninstalling JAVA from your computer as well. The amount of JAVA exploit virus I'm getting from my customers has exploded since 1/1.

I hope I'll get to meet you, Helperguy when I get down there someday so we can talk tech.

fixin_dixon wrote:Everything Helperguy said is true and I second it. I would also suggest uninstalling JAVA from your computer as well. The amount of JAVA exploit virus I'm getting from my customers has exploded since 1/1.

I hope I'll get to meet you, Helperguy when I get down there someday so we can talk tech.

O.K., don't laugh but I'm technically impaired. So do Mac computer have java on them? How about those keystroke doojamahickies, Sometimes mycursor starts moving all by itself. Dear Lawd please don't make this be a BAAD problem.

Dear E-rag,
Well don't freak about the email, I know it feels like a violation of privacy (it could be a whole new thread privacy)
It happens to nearly all of us at some point.
No matter who your email provider is, it is important to use a "strong" password. US military requires two upper case, two lower case, two numbers, two symbols a minimum of 10 characters
For a geek it is fun to make strong passwords.
Here is an example
Pl3asnt8!! = pleasant!! 3= E !=I @=O
you get the idea..
Strong passwords are best. Keeps the bad guys out in the first place.

I do prefer gmail to others... yahoo is my second favorite

Zedinmexico wrote:So HelperGuy what is the best way to see if you have these keystroke recorders? I mean I run the normal anti trojan stuff but is more needed like once a month? Z

There are a lot more keystroke loggers than there are tools to prevent it. Most of the virus checkers don't include rootkit stuff OR anti-keyloggers.

A tool like this inserts all kinds of crap into everything you type to make it unrecognizable, as opposed to "blocking" keylogging. I'll have to do more research to uncover the best way to prevent this kind of thing.

The one that turns up most often during searches is Keystroke Interference, which I just installed (v 2.9). A previous version froze up during registration. I will test it using a KeyLogger tool (KGB Keylogger) to see if how it works. One of the things it offers is a "virtual keyboard", which prevents any keylogger from capturing keystrokes. But what a pain that would be to use.

E-raq wrote:O.K., don't laugh but I'm technically impaired. So do Mac computer have java on them? How about those keystroke doojamahickies, Sometimes mycursor starts moving all by itself. Dear Lawd please don't make this be a BAAD problem.

The Java and Javascript stuff is usually found on Internet browsers, although Java is also installed into the operating system, so it doesn't matter whether it's a Mac or a PC. Most of the game sites use Java extensively.

Your mouse moving may mean the wiring is going bad; haven't seen a spyware that does that.

HelperGuy wrote:

E-raq wrote:O.K., don't laugh but I'm technically impaired. So do Mac computer have java on them? How about those keystroke doojamahickies, Sometimes mycursor starts moving all by itself. Dear Lawd please don't make this be a BAAD problem.

The Java and Javascript stuff is usually found on Internet browsers, although Java is also installed into the operating system, so it doesn't matter whether it's a Mac or a PC. Most of the game sites use Java extensively.

Your mouse moving may mean the wiring is going bad; haven't seen a spyware that does that.

Unless he has installed a remote desktop software. There are scams out there to get people to do this. They usually act like they are trouble shooting your PC. Or he could have installed one for a reason and someone has cracked his password.

E-raq, when the mouse moves, does it move like you would move it, just kind of drag, or jump. Has it ever clicked onto any thing by it's self?