Filtering spam

iowabucks

Member
Hey everyone, a couple of months ago my computer got a trojan. I could not totally get rid of it even with help from a few online communities. Had to migrate to another HHD. It seems like since then i have been getting alot more spam than i used to. I used to only get about 10 emails a day (that was nice) on average. After this it has bumped up to 30 to 40.

It seems like all the new ones are trying to sell something. They could be the same looking email as another but come from a totally different email address. The hyperlink in the email doesn't look like it has anything to do with the product, so of course i never click on them.

When trying to look up info on the email address it came from it seems like most of the email addresses are reported as just been started or shut down, like they took over someone elses address. I'm sure this is the way most of the spam is sent out, by using a different email address each time to try to get around your spam email settings.

Is this normal procedure with the spam senders or does it have something to do with the trojan i had a couple months back?

Also, what can i do to combat these short of blocking everything except approved emaill address? This seems a little harsh to me, as i may miss something important.

Thanks. Jerry.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    AMD Phenom 9950 Black Edition
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator DDRII 4090 MB 1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidea GTX 260
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster X-FI Elite Pro
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1024 X 768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB HD 7200 RPM

    Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM
    PSU
    Enermax Liberty 620W PSU
    Case
    XBLADE
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9700 CPU fan
    Keyboard
    Merc
    Mouse
    Logitech G7
    Internet Speed
    5mb cable
Welcome Jerry
Upfront, I would like to say that I am sure that without more information and possibley even examining your machine a definitive answer would be impossible. That being said, I think that what your are experiencing is part of the trojan problem, your address was stolen and possibly even sold to others. There is only one sure cure, that is to change the address. I know this is a pain, but you can send the new address to all on your email list by "sending to all".
May I suggest that you use an quality firewall (windows fire wall is good and free too)
A good antivirus, Microsoft security essentials is good and download and run the free malwarebytes.
I would also like to say that most spam filters are not that helpful. The spammers change words, by misspelling etc, that would trigger the filter, etc. They change address often and know all the gimmicks.
Get a new address, notify the email provider to close down your address as it may be used to send to others in the future. Good luck and Im sorry for your problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
I did run Microsoft Essentials and Malware Bytes along with the firewall at the time, but it somehow still found it's way into my computer. I believe it was a rootkit that really knew how to hide itself after installing.

Would it help to unsubscribe to any of the emails, or will this just lead to more?

I will probably just get a new email addy.

Thanks. Jerry.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    AMD Phenom 9950 Black Edition
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator DDRII 4090 MB 1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidea GTX 260
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster X-FI Elite Pro
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1024 X 768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB HD 7200 RPM

    Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM
    PSU
    Enermax Liberty 620W PSU
    Case
    XBLADE
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9700 CPU fan
    Keyboard
    Merc
    Mouse
    Logitech G7
    Internet Speed
    5mb cable

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Emachine ET 1161-05
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 LE-1640
    Motherboard
    eMachines MCP61PM-GM (Socket AM2 )
    Memory
    2.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 387MHz (6-6-6-18)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Acer E181H (1280x768@60Hz) 128MB GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 (
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name Acer E181H on NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
    Screen Resolution
    1280x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    ST316081 5AS SCSI Disk Device
    PSU
    MCP61PM-GM 9000 NVIDIA Chipset Model MCP61 Chipset Revisio
    Case
    Tower
    Cooling
    Fan Speed 1247 RPM
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Mouse
    PS/2 Compatible Mouse
    Internet Speed
    http://www.speedtest.net/result/1538974261.png
Jerry,
Never unsubscribe to unwanted spam, know why? Well, its because, that will not stop it and in addition you are telling the spammer that they have a good address that is in use and they will not stop they just sell the address to others. If the spam is really bad get a new address. In addition get a spam email address. That is the one you use when an address is necessary online, maybe to buy something or to get a free gift, etc.
If you migrated to another drive the rootkit might not be there, but the only sure way is to format all the drives involved and then reinstall. The experts here mostly agree thats the best way with rootkits.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Try this for rootkit : free : Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller
Thanks Yarddog, but thats one i tried, and it didn't show anything. The general consensus thought it was a well hidden rootkit.

After cleaning as best i could with about 6 different malware programs and 3 different malware forum help that ran many programs to find it, only saying everything was clean, it still had quirks like:
1. random music or a videos audio playing in the background when no applications were running at the time.
2. hyperlinks in emails would not work. m(just a setting changed i'm sure)
3. every time i would do a google search and click on a link it would hijack the results and take me somewhere totally different.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    AMD Phenom 9950 Black Edition
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator DDRII 4090 MB 1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidea GTX 260
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster X-FI Elite Pro
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1024 X 768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB HD 7200 RPM

    Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM
    PSU
    Enermax Liberty 620W PSU
    Case
    XBLADE
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9700 CPU fan
    Keyboard
    Merc
    Mouse
    Logitech G7
    Internet Speed
    5mb cable
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