How To Stop Email Hijack

[fb02521]

Once a week my email contacts are hijacked and links sent to the recipients.

i have microsoft essentials, spybot search and destroy, windows defender and malwarebytes anti malware and windows XP. ineffective to stop it. Only thing that works is deleting all contacts.

any way to solve this besides a windows reinstall?

 

[wayliff]

Do you use a strong password? You must use a strong or stronger password.
Read this - LINK

What email service do you use and is it the same service that has been constantly compromised? Have you changed your password since the initial attack?

Are you certain your machine does not have a key logger or is compromised by malware?

Read this too - LINK

There - something to start with.

Good luck!

 

[wayliff]

Here is some more to read...
LINK

I hope you find it all helpful.

 

[brotj7]

Can you provide any more info?

Are you running your own email server? Using an email manager like outlook? Using a free online email provider? Have you changed your credentials from a known clean pc?

Might want to change any passwords for online bill pay/banking if anything is tied into this email account too.

 

[fb02521]

the problem of the moment is more detecting or getting rid of the hijacker.

using yahoo free email. I've disabled--forgot how I did it--any administrator pass words to log on to Windows XP. used same screen name and pass word for 7 years now.

will read the links provided. txs. very much!

 

[wirednuts]

used the same password for 7 years? do we actually have to suggest that you change your password?

 

[VinylxScratches]

you should probably change your password....

 

[wheresmybacon]

Have you considered that your contacts have already been compromised so now they're on a spam list somewhere? If you're using web mail and not a true email client I'd say that's the more likely scenario.

Also, just for kicks I'd both change your password and start a fresh user profile.

Part of me thinks we're all being trolled here....

 

[Binky]

Once a week? Same password for 7 years (even after the problems started)? Incompatible virus/malware programs?

Hrrmmm....

 

[fb02521]

no troll. newbie type. this has been hanging around off and on for 1 year. business computer. so changes to password, email client, etc. very difficult without losing immense amts. of data that are on yahoo. txs for response. i'm reading all links when i have time. what is incompatible about my virus/malwares??? for time being I have eliminated all contacts. and, that does seem a likely scenario that our contacts are on a spam list somewhere, as all scans of this computer turn up nothing. BUT yahoo declines permitting changes of email address.

 

[Duwelon]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

 

[Fardringle]

My opinion on this:

1) Change your passwords (all of them) right away, and do it from a different computer just in case there is malware hiding on your machine that you have not found yet.
2) Don't use yahoo for business email, unless you don't care about professional appearance.
3) If the problem continues, get a new email address. Don't just change the account name, get a completely new email account, ideally with a provider that will let you register your own domain name - something related to the business - and use that instead of the old one. Let your legitimate clients know about the new address and tell them to delete/ignore anything they receive from the old address. Keep checking the old account so you don't miss anything from your clients, but don't automatically forward email from the old account to the new one as that will just let the spammer/hacker/etc know where you went so they can keep sending garbage to you and your clients.
4) Don't ever use your main/business email address to sign up for online services, mailing lists, message boards, etc. as spammers often use those to gather addresses for their spam lists. Get a free/junk account for that and do not associate it with your regular address/contacts in any way.

Even if you ignore the rest, do #1 immediately (and more often than once every 7 years in the future).

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Once a week my email contacts are hijacked and links sent to the recipients.

i have microsoft essentials, spybot search and destroy, windows defender and malwarebytes anti malware and windows XP. ineffective to stop it. Only thing that works is deleting all contacts.

any way to solve this besides a windows reinstall?

first you need uninstall your older versions of adobe and java and install the latest. Make a habit of this. Do not leave the older versions on your pc.

Then donwload this
http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?DownloadSandboxie
It creates a special contained "sandbox" environment on your PC. While browsing within the virtual sandbox provided by Sandboxie, you are totally isolated from the vital portions of your PC, namely your operating system environment on your hard drive andmemory locations for your current OS session. So any files you download are isolated to the sandbox. Similarly, any programs that are executed only do so within the sandbox, and have no access to your normal files, the Windows operating system or any other part of your PC.
Usage is remarkably simple.

Then most sites that you'd want to use now offer an encrypted connection option, usually termed as "HTTPS" or "SSL." If a site doesn't have that option, and it's holding your personal data, consider whether you really need to be using that service.

Do not click on unknown emails or addys that you dont know. If you must click on them use your phone rather but clear the cache before you do it.