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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 8,987
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OP
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 8,987 |
I started getting strange messages from a friend that I felt were inappropriate from him. Not [*****] but stuff that I know he wouldn't be associated with.
Upon investigation, everyone in his address book were getting the same messages.
He asked my advice in correcting the invasion of his privacy.
He ran MS Essentials Security Scan and it was negative.
Like me, he's an old fossil and even less computer savvy.
His ISP is AT&T. Please suggest what he should do to regain control of his address book.
TIA
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 330
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 330 |
Is this E Mail account the one with AT&T or with another one such as Hotmail?
Hotmail was a rich target for hackers recently who took over accounts by correctly guessing some of the simple and easy to crack passwords folks were using.
Which now leads me to the answer to your friends problem, he only needs to change his accounts password to something hopefully a good bit stronger and less easy for others to guess.
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Joined: Dec 2003
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He should try Ccleaner: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/downloadAnd anti-malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/Get the free version of each. This is how I use these products. 1-run Ccleaner - this takes out all temp files 2-run your anti-virus 3-run anti-malwarebytes in safe-mode - when done click on history and delete all it finds 4-run Ccleaner in registry mode - it's in the left column of the program. It will scan your registry. If it finds things be sure to backup the registry - it will give you an option to do so. Then clean the registry. Report back what happened. This is another case that proves you should backup your entire HD with Acronis or any other image making program onto an external drive. NOTE - some have had problems with Ccleaner's registry clean. I have never had a problem with it being too aggressive. So BE SURE TO MAKE A REGISTRY BACKUP WHEN ASKED so you can return it to its last state. Good luck and I hope this helps.
The bumper sticker said "I'm a veterinarian, therefore I can drive like an animal".
Suddenly I realized how many proctologists are on the road.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Joined: Jul 2007
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Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 330 |
No amount of internal cleaning can get rid of the fact that a hacker has gained access to an E Mail account, nor can it stop it happening in the future. Only a strong password can help prevent any hackers from stealing personal address books from E Mail accounts. In most cases I have encountered, a change of password prevents the original hacker from regaining access to the address book, as these guys don't bother storing them for future re-use, why should they when they can access the account whenever they want till you change the password, it doesn't bother them when you do, they have hundreds more to play with to send their spam or other vile messages. I will also strongly recommend not to use registry cleaners they can wreck a computer. What is the point of keeping a registry backup when the registry itself is so mangled it prevents you running the back up. Three very good write ups about why registry cleaning is a waste of time any way. http://www.whatthetech.com/2007/11/25/do-i-need-a-registry-cleaner/http://www.edbott.com/weblog/2005/04/why-i-dont-use-registry-cleaners/http://miekiemoes.blogspot.co.uk/2008/02/registry-cleaners-and-system-tweaking_13.htmlC.Cleaner is a good cleaning tool, providing you do not use the registry cleaner, as shown above, pretty pointless and time wasting exercise any way. I am not a moderator on several computer help forums for nothing, or because I don't know anything.
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Joined: Dec 2013
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Agree with Nev about just changing the password to a less predictable one.
Mario is on point too with cleaning issues on the PC. I use Malware Bytes a lot.
Since I'm a computer geek I tend to get all the family's laptops/PCs when they get some funk on them. I tend to get more virus/spyware issues than hacked email.
My Hotmail account got hacked about 5 years ago and all my contacts were emailed junk. Since then I backed up all my contacts to a separate file and deleted them from Hotmail. I also keep my sent mail and trash can empty. If my account would get hacked again, it would be less likely that junk would get out to contacts since they are gone.
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Thanks to who responded. We are getting his system sorted.
I gave him an extra External USB Drive so he can clone his HDD after a thorough cleanup.
You folks are awesome!
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
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