Be careful everyone

[AndrewT]

Dear All,

I 'warned' John, this evening, about a possible virus. I had an email, allegedly from him which was clearly NOT from him. Fortunately my system's 'spam' filter flagged it and I removed it, or did I? A short while later my 'Bull guard' quarantined a rouge file which it then, as I ran a scan, removed.

My message is clear here (I'm a poet and I don't even know it) 'everyone'.....Make sure your 'spam' filters/security systems are up to date and remove anything suspicious immediately-not when you get round to it! I know that I'm 'nagging' and, to a lot of you, I'm teaching Grandma to suck eggs but I'm NOT sorry for doing this, not at all. I have been caught out, by these buggers (can I say that...sorry just did) myself and, as I can verify, it is unpleasant to say the least-no I'm not going to swear again, once is enough!

I'll end now and wish you all a Happy Easter.

AndrewT

[orsen-trapp]

Thanks for the warning which I'll take seriously as you sent it after noon!

[Nadine99]

I received it in my spam folder so I deleted the email without opening it. It said from John Mills but the small amount of text showing didn't make any sense, so I guessed it was rogue.

Thanks for the warning, always good to keep alert for these things.

[Albasain]

I also read the message. As it came from "John Mills" I opened it and found it was to do with an advert for home working. I thought it was a typical piggy back message but not a virus, however I deleted it and ran a virus scan ( I have a Mac so am quite safe in that respect) to clear any caches.

There are, however, increased cold calls and internet scams running and targeting older people and those with chronic illnesses and whose sole aim is to devoid you of money. We have had two in the last week targeting my wife. My advice is to be very aware, note telephone numbers, general conversations and that call you and inform the relevant authorities such as internet providers, banks and police with all information.

To note, a neighbour of mine was scammed out of £5,000 with such a call and the perpetrators even called back wanting another £5,000. Luckily for her we advised her and she suffered no loss. But as Andrew has said be warned!

In regards such calls, emails,

IF IN DOUBT, DON'T!

[Suzym2u Moderator Vasculitis UK]

I am afraid this happens from time to time especially with BT but as Albasain has said it is a piggy back message on some of the contacts in anyone's email account.

I think it is sorted now thank goodness John would never send an email with just a link or even a one liner and a link.... he always has too much to say

We also find cold telephone calls something to be so very careful of. We have about 2 a week, even those telling you have a problem with your PC and want to fix it for you...

Susan

[jackrussell]

I had a Vasculitis question in my Email box recently that had a red flag at the side of it can anyone tell me ( not very computer litterate I,m afraid ) what this means. It wasn,t something I could answer so not really important , but just thought I would ask.

[Hidden]

There's something in my INBOX

Now whatever could it be?

It wished me Happy Easter

so I took a look to see.

I didn't know the sender,

I didn't really care!

One minute there was nothing,

then suddenly it's there!

I almost clicked the file it held

but I 'd read a timely warning

from AndrewT, here on HU,

I read it just this morning.

I ran it through my spam checker

twice, just to make sure,

and found the message wasn't real,

it turned out to be a lure!

So thank you AndrewT,

you're an absolute life saver.

By posting so's to warn us,

you've done us all a favour.

poemsgalore

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Wonderful, your fab poems always bring a smile to my face. Xx😄

[AndrewT in reply to Hidden]

You are a poet and you know it-sorry best I could 'do', at the moment!

[Foss]

Thank you, I've been getting these for some months now and just bin them.

[AndrewT]

In some ways I am appalled, by the number of 'posts' that I generated, however in many ways I'm very 'heartened'. Most of us can, it would appear, can tell a real 'post', from John, from a scam one. It seems such a shame, that 'people'-and I use the term loosely- target our 'forum' with, it would appear, only evil in mind. (I would say what I think of them but....Children might read this, and anyway, I'd run out of space). Still, I suppose, we should feel 'lucky' that we are not discriminated against-'they' will happily target any of us after all! I guess that we will all have to remain vigilant.

On this, rather unhappy note, I'll wish everyone a Happy Easter.

AndrewT

[Tippon]

If anyone needs an antivirus program, Microsoft have a free offering, Microsoft Security Essentials. It's available here:

windows.microsoft.com/en-us...

It works on Windows Vista and Windows 7. If you've got Windows 8, Windows Defender is built in.

Don't forget too, if you had an antivirus program installed on your computer when you bought it, chances are it was only a trial and may be out of date. Double check it to be on the safe side

[Tony-LakeDistrict in reply to Tippon]

Hi sorry to be a downer, but even Microsoft advise you to load a propitiatory anti virus program, such as Norton or McAfee,

Defender is not a total solution, & in any case is being dropped by Microsoft

[Tippon in reply to Tony-LakeDistrict]

Thanks Tony

I've only just started using Windows 8, so I'm still playing catchup

[AndrewT]

Dear Tippon,

I always keep my 'ant-virus' programs up to date-currently I have 'Bull Guard'. I tend to have a different 'Fire-Wall' each time; not only is this, quite often, the cheaper option but also means that I am not reliant of just one company (Something else to be considered perhaps?).

I wish you all a 'safe' Easter-best wishes AndrewT