real or dangerous?

[Tracy]

Hello. I'm not sure where to post this question so my apologies if
this is the wrong place. For many weeks I have been getting two emails
on a pretty regular basis. One is from Microsoft and contains fixes
for problems with PC programs. The other message always comes right
behind it and it is a "failed delivery" message saying that a message
I tried to send to someone didn't go through. In fact, I've never
tried to send that message.

I've assumed from the beginning that both messages were fakes. But
they don't stop. My question is, are they dangerous? In other words,
do they contain a virus of some sort? The Microsoft message has
attachments for all kinds of files for PC program. Since I use a Mac,
I'm not concerned about missing something important from Microsoft.
But I can't be the only person getting this stuff. What is it all
about?

Thanks.

Also, if anyone needs to see copies of this stuff, I've still got the
ones that arrived this morning.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I've assumed from the beginning that both messages were fakes. But
they don't stop. My question is, are they dangerous?

They're only dangerous on a PC. On a Mac, they are just an annoyance
(like all spam).


Corentin


PS: You should change your e-mail address on the newsgroups to something
like (e-mail address removed). THat's where they probably got your
address.

 

[J.E. McGimpsey]

Hello. I'm not sure where to post this question so my apologies if
this is the wrong place. For many weeks I have been getting two emails
on a pretty regular basis. One is from Microsoft and contains fixes
for problems with PC programs. The other message always comes right
behind it and it is a "failed delivery" message saying that a message
I tried to send to someone didn't go through. In fact, I've never
tried to send that message.

I've assumed from the beginning that both messages were fakes. But
they don't stop. My question is, are they dangerous? In other words,
do they contain a virus of some sort? The Microsoft message has
attachments for all kinds of files for PC program. Since I use a Mac,
I'm not concerned about missing something important from Microsoft.
But I can't be the only person getting this stuff. What is it all
about?

Thanks.

Also, if anyone needs to see copies of this stuff, I've still got the
ones that arrived this morning.

First, Microsoft has said it will NEVER send out an update, security
or otherwise, by unsolicited email.

Second, as a Mac user, your machine can't be infected by these
files. But the volume of email from unprotected Windows users can be
a real PITA.

It's a real virus/worm, called Swen ("News", backward). You can read
about it here:

https://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/swen.asp
http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virus.aspx?ID=36939

It propagates both via the infected (Windows) computer's Address
book, and by newsgroup. If you post further, you'll probably want to
follow the advice Microsoft has posted in the groups. You may also
find

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/groupspam.html

helpful.