Have you been Infected by an Email Virus?
Dial our 800 number, or contact us online for help with Email Viruses.
We make it easy, too. Everything happens over your broadband Internet connection. This means that you won’t have to disconnect your computer and drag it out to a service center, nor will you need to invite strangers into your home. Just contact us and we’ll immediately get to work on finding and fixing the following:
- Computer viruses
- Conficker virus
- Alureon Trojan
- Mocmex Trojan
- Torpig Trojan
- Stinger virus
- Botnets
- Spyware
- Adware
- Keyloggers
- Worms
- Nyxem worm
- Warezov worm
- Bifrost Trojan
- Zlob Trojan
- Any new threats that appear
What is an email virus?
An email virus is computer code sent to you as an email note attachment which, if activated, will cause some unexpected and usually harmful effect, such as destroying certain files on your hard disk and causing the attachment to be remailed to everyone in your address book. Although not the only kind of computer virus, email viruses are the best known and cause the greatest loss of time and money.
You ask, Why are people putting viruses out in the Internet? Currently, it is very big business for fraudulent possession of private information of individuals and credit card data, and it is therefore very profitable to those who write malicious code for the purpose of capturing this information. A fabulous tool in the hands of the wrong people used to execute this criminal activity is Email and a technique more recently, social engineering, which is nothing more than a fancy term for someone trying to get people to give up personal information -- online or in person -- so they can use it to steal from them. Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity (a popularly known bank for instance) in an electronic communication - through email and/or a fake website. Anti-spam traps may catch email messages coming from phishers, but the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team says the best way for you to beat them at their own game is to BE WARY.
How Email Viruses Work
There are many things you can now find in your email inbox, including email attachments inviting you to download an email virus that contain:
- Trojan horses
- Worms
- Viruses
In many cases, email viruses are not true viruses because they cannot replicate without human interaction. Nonetheless, they are very effective in shutting down enterprise email systems.
A Trojan horse, aptly named after the seemingly harmless tool of destruction in Homer's Iliad, secretly carries often damaging software in a plain wrapper. The plain wrapper is normally an email file attachment from someone you may or may not know. The file attachment name itself can also be very misleading. When you run the attachment, it can do all sorts of things, from erasing computer files to changing your desktop. It then sends itself along to other people in your address book so that it can propagate itself, among other potentially destructive things.
Preventative Measures Against Email Viruses
Many users install anti-virus software that can detect and eliminate known viruses after the computer downloads or runs the infected executable. Many anti-virus programs now are able to scan opened files in addition to sent and received emails in real time in a similar manner. Anti-virus software does not actually change the underlying capability of host software to transmit viruses. This means that users MUST UPDATE their computer system software regularly--to patch security holes and regularly update their anti-virus software in order for it to recognize the latest threats.
The best defenses against email viruses for individual users are:
- Do NOT use an administrator profile as a general routine daily computer user account, create a limited user account for routine daily computer use. Use the computer's administrator account only for things requiring administrator permissions, and when completed, LOG OUT of the administrator profile (NOT switch user - that will keep it running like a sitting duck online in the background).
- Enforce a policy of never opening (double-clicking on) an email attachment unless you know who sent it and what the attachment contains.
- Installing, updating, and using anti-virus software to scan any attachment before you open it.
- Enforce a policy of never clicking on a live link in the body of an email as they can land you on a site that executes malicious code onto your computer in the background.
- Be aware that social engineering is a fancy term for someone trying to get you to give up your personal information -- online or in person -- so they can use it to steal from you. The best way for you to beat them at their own game is to BE WARY. Never give out your personal or financial information online.
Once a Computer is Compromised by a Virus
Once a computer has been compromised by a virus, it is usually unsafe to continue using the same computer without professional surgical removal, or completely reinstalling the operating system, or, in worst cases, replacing the entire drive for those viruses that have no known fix, such as the very virulent polymorphic virus that leaves a wake of computer software system carnage wherever it has been. Polymorphic code is that which mutates while keeping the original algorithm intact - the code changes itself each time it runs but the function of the code does not change. To get rid of Virut, and this is going to hurt since there is currently no known fix, is the replacement of a computer's hard disk drive is required. Virus infections are serious business, are not jokes, can affect everyone whether they are online or not, are very expensive to deal with, and are not to be taken lightly.
If you think a virus has infected your computer from an email virus that mails itself to people in your address book, CALL those people, DO NOT EMAIL THEM, and tell them not to open the messages or attachments -- that is the only effective way to stop the spread.
If you have any email virus issues, unsure as to how to set up email virus preventative measures, or have accidentally infected your machine with an active virus from a downloaded email virus, please call us. We would be happy to diagnose, remove, repair and protect your system from future email viruses.
We're here 24/7 as your remote Email Virus help. Just call one of our Personal Technology Experts® and we’ll handle everything. The entire process is easy. After you call, one of our Tech Experts will start remotely scanning your computer right away. By using only your Internet connection, we can fix just about any problem you may have—big or small. We're here to help you get the most from your technology. Also, by calling Support.com, there’s no need to go out to a local support center or invite strangers to your home. You’re free to just sit back and relax after we start.
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