{"id":304,"date":"2011-02-23T16:56:46","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T16:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=304"},"modified":"2011-02-23T17:09:00","modified_gmt":"2011-02-23T17:09:00","slug":"beware-of-strange-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/beware-of-strange-emails\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware of strange emails"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi. Read here:
\n<\/strong>Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7<\/p>\n

Have you been getting emails from friends that \thave the subject “Hi” and nothing in the body but a link and the words, \t“Read here” or “click here”?<\/p>\n

Take a look below. If you get an email the body \tof which has something like this:<\/p>\n

Read here:
\nhttp:\/\/ahojjkk.revaos.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

You can do yourself and your friend a big \tfavor. First don’t click on the link in the email. There’s a 99.99% chance \tthat if you do, you’ll be downloading a Trojan\/botnet on your computer. If \tyour antivirus is good and it is updated it should catch it before it \tinstalls, but why take chances? Do not click the link.<\/p>\n

What you should do is this: Email your your \tfriend and tell them what you suspect. Tell them you received an email from \tthem with a suspicious link, and remind them update their antivirus and their antispyware \t– and then scan their computer. If \tthey’re infected (and they very well may be if the mail they sent to you was \tsent by a botnet) you might want to suggest to them they change their \tantivirus to Avast or Microsoft Security Essentials. The more we use \tMicrosoft Security Essentials the more we’re impressed with it. And it’s \tdoing very well in tests conducted by independent labs too. In a recent \ttest, it tested far better than Norton, which sent Norton into a tizzy. \tNorton was so upset they \tconducted their own tests to prove their $60 (plus $50 a year program) was \tbetter than Microsoft Security Essentials (free). This is sort of like what \tMicrosoft did when Internet 8 came out and everyone was saying how slow it \twas compared to Firefox and Chrome. Microsoft conducted its own tests which \tproved that IE8 was faster. Data can be manipulated anyway you like. We’ll \tbuy the independent lab tests over Symantec’s tests any day.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we digress. You should also have them \tdownload and install Malwarebytes (Free edition) available from \twww.malwarebytes.org<\/a> and scan \ttheir computer. You’ll be doing them a big favor – and you’ll be helping to \tstop the malicious spread of botnets.<\/p>\n

If you get a message from a friend with a link \tin it, don’t assume because the “From” line says it’s from your friend that \tyour friend actually sent it. There are many ways email addresses can be \tforged, and there are a lot of botnets being installed surreptitiously on \tunprotected computers. Once a botnet is installed, it turns into an email \tfactory, sending out hundreds, even thousands of emails – without the \tknowledge of the computer’s owner.<\/p>\n

So, if you receive a suspicious message from a \tfriend with nothing in the body but a link and subject line like “Hi”, stop \tand think before you click. Alert the sender; it’s quite possible that he or \tshe will have no idea that email was sent.<\/p>\n

If we all do our part to help each other, we \tcan help slow the spread of viruses, spyware, Trojans and other malicious files.<\/p>\n

Get \u00a0a lot more tips and tricks, freeware picks, and answers to your computer questions! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Subscribe to our FREE Information Avenue Newsletter.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi. Read here: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 Have you been getting emails from friends that have the subject “Hi” and nothing in the body but a link and the words, “Read here” or “click here”? Take a look below. If you get an email the body of which has something like this: Read here: http:\/\/ahojjkk.revaos.com\/ You\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[83,93,87,88,85,92,91,84,86,90,89,7,6,5],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions\/309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}