virus help please! E-mail been compromised?

Gepetto

Gepetto

Gepetto

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Hi guys. I'm after a little help with a virus issue, and, as I'm fairly close to clueless, a little advice would be very welcome.

I opened a USPS scam e-mail and clicked on Run just as my mind realised it shouldn't say Run! Doh! Anyway, I then ran malwarebytes and AVG (full version) and Malwarebytes found a couple of issues that were resolved. AVG found nothing.

Then Google e-mailed to say they had prevented a suspicious login and advised me to change my passwords, so I bought a copy of Norton, took AVG off and ran Norton. This found and resolved two viruses, Trojans, according to Norton. I changed my e-mail passwords and have had no further issues, but this morning, on one of my e-mails (I have quite a few on Outlook) came up with over a hundred "Mail Delivery Failed" messages! The e-mail addy that the messages say sent the spam has not been changed as yet.

I've been running Norton daily since my idiotic error, and have not found anything. I am slightly concerned that changing all my passwords might not be enough but I'm not in a position to just ditch the HDD and re-install Windows.

How can I be absolutely sure my machine is clear? Any advice would be truly welcome!
 
a virus doesn't mean ditching the hard drive.

Personally i'd have gone with eset or bit defender (maybe try one of these on a free trial) but combining malwarebytes with an AV will tend to sort most things out.

On the scan do you recall what virus it said you had?

If you used that password (or close to it) for everything else, then changing everything to something stronger is always a good way to go.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/outlook/hacked-account
 
Did you change your email password on the infected machine? Are you sure that email was from google?

Before doing anything else I would borrow a clean PC and change your password on every site that you use the same password (which really should be no other sites! Reusing passwords is always a big no-no)
 
Grrrrr said:
Did you change your email password on the infected machine? Are you sure that email was from google?

Before doing anything else I would borrow a clean PC and change your password on every site that you use the same password (which really should be no other sites! Reusing passwords is always a big no-no)
Click to expand...

Hi there. Yes I did change the passwords from the infected machine, but only after Norton, and Malwarebytes, came up clear. This now worries me, as I had thought I'd eradicated the problem.

My GMail passwords were changed on an independent computer but all the business e-mails, through Namesco, were changed on this machine. Each e-mail has its own password, except for the three through Namesco.

Namesco blocked my accounts this morning and asked me to run AV and then change my passwords which I have now done, but, that is what I did last week! :confused:

Thanks llamadal, I've read through the link and done everything again. :cool:
 
Depending on how old computer is and operating system installed I would be tempted to use it as an excuse to buy a solid state drive for new installation of Windows. And recover stuff off the mechanical drive at your leisure.
 
Back up all essential files, wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall the OS

There's no need to throw away a hard drive because of a virus as almost all can be completely cleared with a format and reinstall.
 
Gepetto said:
... so I bought a copy of Norton, took AVG off and ran Norton.
Click to expand...

This was your second mistake after clicking the dodgy link in the first place. Uninstall it, take it back to where you bought it from, and ask for a refund.

Reinstall AVG, Avast, Malwarebytes, MS Security Essentials, or any other of the much much much better free alternatives and have a bit more trust in them.

You've already done the main thing in changing your passwords.

If you want to be absolutely sure, the only way is to wipe your HDD and start again - not a big ask in the world of Windows 8 - should be up and running within 30 mins.
 
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