Aunty Virus 26th April 2010
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Alan from Benidorm asks:
Dear Aunty, I often receive (like everybody I'm sure) emails which get sent to my junk box that are blatant phishing scams. They are usually claiming to be from banks or building societies, but I have even received them from 'Inland Revenue' offering a tax overpayment rebate or people with foreign names. I always mark them as phishing scams and they disappear from my inbox. Do you know what happens to them? Does the network provider report them to the supposed sender so they know what is happening? As they arrive as junk I cannot forward them to the financial institution being used to target me.
Aunty Says:
I’m not sure with Hotmail Alan, but I know the Gmail people at Google are constantly monitoring these junk and spam emails to try and identify the source, what can be done about it is a different matter all together. Until the ‘No Man’s Land’ surrounding the Internet is properly legislated I can’t see any way our ISPs (Internet Service Providers) can do much more than the tail chasing they already do.
Frank via email asks:
Hello Aunty. My Yahoo email address and contact list has been hijacked and all my contacts have been receiving emails advertising anything from motorcycles to video cameras. I have changed to Gmail and deleted all my contacts from Yahoo. My question is: Can I remove my Yahoo email address completely? Many thanks.
Aunty Says:
Hi there Frank. If you login to your Yahoo account and go here you can delete all of your Yahoo account stuff.
Dave via email asks:
Hi Aunty, can you help please? My computer runs fine with a variety of programmes running at the same time but when I open up Firefox and start browsing, within a minute it has bought the computer to an almost standstill. When I hit ctrl+alt+del to get out of it my CPU meter shows 100% and the moment Firefox shuts down everything goes back to normal. I run AVG, SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes regularly and these are showing everything is good to go, any suggestions please?
Aunty Says:
Hello Dave. There seems to a couple of things that can cause Firefox to eat up your computers resources so try this one first and let me know. Start Firefox and click on ‘tools’ ‘add-ons’ and click on the ‘extensions’ button. In the extensions window that appears you will see a list of all the additional features that Firefox has installed and you can disable each one and check the results. The AVG Security Toolbar is notoriously bad so maybe go for that one first. You will need to restart Firefox and give it a few minutes before you check your CPU load.
Derek via email asks:
Dear Aunty, I'm running Windows XP and this problem is driving me mad. As soon as my desktop appears, a window pops up from the Windows Installer saying "preparing to install". I've tried cancelling it but it keeps coming back. It eventually leaves after fifteen minutes or so, but it's still a pain. Can you advise me how to get rid?
Aunty Says:
There’s a plethora of things that can cause this Derek and none of them are easily identified. MS Office is probably the most common cause but to be honest fixing this can lead to all kinds of problems, often a lot worse than just having the annoying installer message appear. Certainly make sure you have the latest Windows and Office updates and XP Service Pack 3, and maybe use the Task Manager (Ctrl Alt Del at the same time) to identify the process that’s running. Keep me posted.
Geoff via email asks:
Hi Aunty, Keep up the good work, I find your page always of great interest. Could you possibly assist me with finding a reliable Wi-Fi internet service supplier in Spain? I spend about 6 months of the year in Spain (2 separate 3 month periods). When in Spain I live on Villamar Benidorm the ISP Wi-Fi that I use is Ahoranet, or should I say attempt to use as it is very difficult to get on line and when on line it is very slow. The service is also expensive when compared to the UK. Most of the time I use the free hotel Wi-Fi connections but would rather have and pay for my own connection. I read many bad reports about Telefonica but Ahoranet must be a close second for charging an A1 price for a third class minus service.
Aunty Says:
The million dollar question Geoff. I use Europa Wireless and therefore have no need for a landline and thankfully no contact with Telefonica. However it’s not cheap in Spain so shop around. you may find having a wireless installation isn’t as fast or reliable as a fixed line ADSL running over your existing phone line. When talking about ‘Wi-Fi’ and ‘Wireless Internet’ there is often confusion so I’ll try and explain it a little. Essentially there are two very different varieties of wireless, three if we count the mobile USB dongles from the likes of Vodafone. ‘Wi-Fi’ is the connection Windows tells you about when you’re near a Wi-Fi source in your home, café or hotspot. It is not actually the Internet connection, but simply a connection between your laptop and a small internet box with an aerial known as a ‘router’. This Wi-Fi router is usually supplied by the internet provider and exists purely to save you having an unsightly cable running across the floor. The very different ‘Wireless Internet’ service that the likes of RTN and Europa offer involves installing a transmitter somewhere on your roof that points to a receiver more than likely a few miles away. In this context you can think of Wi-Fi as a connection within the home/hotspot as an alternative to having bothersome cables, and Wireless Internet as a long distance ADSL/broadband connection as an alternative to the ADSL used over the copper landlines owned by Telefonica. So now you know.
Dear Aunty, I often receive (like everybody I'm sure) emails which get sent to my junk box that are blatant phishing scams. They are usually claiming to be from banks or building societies, but I have even received them from 'Inland Revenue' offering a tax overpayment rebate or people with foreign names. I always mark them as phishing scams and they disappear from my inbox. Do you know what happens to them? Does the network provider report them to the supposed sender so they know what is happening? As they arrive as junk I cannot forward them to the financial institution being used to target me.
Aunty Says:
I’m not sure with Hotmail Alan, but I know the Gmail people at Google are constantly monitoring these junk and spam emails to try and identify the source, what can be done about it is a different matter all together. Until the ‘No Man’s Land’ surrounding the Internet is properly legislated I can’t see any way our ISPs (Internet Service Providers) can do much more than the tail chasing they already do.
Frank via email asks:
Hello Aunty. My Yahoo email address and contact list has been hijacked and all my contacts have been receiving emails advertising anything from motorcycles to video cameras. I have changed to Gmail and deleted all my contacts from Yahoo. My question is: Can I remove my Yahoo email address completely? Many thanks.
Aunty Says:
Hi there Frank. If you login to your Yahoo account and go here you can delete all of your Yahoo account stuff.
Dave via email asks:
Hi Aunty, can you help please? My computer runs fine with a variety of programmes running at the same time but when I open up Firefox and start browsing, within a minute it has bought the computer to an almost standstill. When I hit ctrl+alt+del to get out of it my CPU meter shows 100% and the moment Firefox shuts down everything goes back to normal. I run AVG, SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes regularly and these are showing everything is good to go, any suggestions please?
Aunty Says:
Hello Dave. There seems to a couple of things that can cause Firefox to eat up your computers resources so try this one first and let me know. Start Firefox and click on ‘tools’ ‘add-ons’ and click on the ‘extensions’ button. In the extensions window that appears you will see a list of all the additional features that Firefox has installed and you can disable each one and check the results. The AVG Security Toolbar is notoriously bad so maybe go for that one first. You will need to restart Firefox and give it a few minutes before you check your CPU load.
Derek via email asks:
Dear Aunty, I'm running Windows XP and this problem is driving me mad. As soon as my desktop appears, a window pops up from the Windows Installer saying "preparing to install". I've tried cancelling it but it keeps coming back. It eventually leaves after fifteen minutes or so, but it's still a pain. Can you advise me how to get rid?
Aunty Says:
There’s a plethora of things that can cause this Derek and none of them are easily identified. MS Office is probably the most common cause but to be honest fixing this can lead to all kinds of problems, often a lot worse than just having the annoying installer message appear. Certainly make sure you have the latest Windows and Office updates and XP Service Pack 3, and maybe use the Task Manager (Ctrl Alt Del at the same time) to identify the process that’s running. Keep me posted.
Geoff via email asks:
Hi Aunty, Keep up the good work, I find your page always of great interest. Could you possibly assist me with finding a reliable Wi-Fi internet service supplier in Spain? I spend about 6 months of the year in Spain (2 separate 3 month periods). When in Spain I live on Villamar Benidorm the ISP Wi-Fi that I use is Ahoranet, or should I say attempt to use as it is very difficult to get on line and when on line it is very slow. The service is also expensive when compared to the UK. Most of the time I use the free hotel Wi-Fi connections but would rather have and pay for my own connection. I read many bad reports about Telefonica but Ahoranet must be a close second for charging an A1 price for a third class minus service.
Aunty Says:
The million dollar question Geoff. I use Europa Wireless and therefore have no need for a landline and thankfully no contact with Telefonica. However it’s not cheap in Spain so shop around. you may find having a wireless installation isn’t as fast or reliable as a fixed line ADSL running over your existing phone line. When talking about ‘Wi-Fi’ and ‘Wireless Internet’ there is often confusion so I’ll try and explain it a little. Essentially there are two very different varieties of wireless, three if we count the mobile USB dongles from the likes of Vodafone. ‘Wi-Fi’ is the connection Windows tells you about when you’re near a Wi-Fi source in your home, café or hotspot. It is not actually the Internet connection, but simply a connection between your laptop and a small internet box with an aerial known as a ‘router’. This Wi-Fi router is usually supplied by the internet provider and exists purely to save you having an unsightly cable running across the floor. The very different ‘Wireless Internet’ service that the likes of RTN and Europa offer involves installing a transmitter somewhere on your roof that points to a receiver more than likely a few miles away. In this context you can think of Wi-Fi as a connection within the home/hotspot as an alternative to having bothersome cables, and Wireless Internet as a long distance ADSL/broadband connection as an alternative to the ADSL used over the copper landlines owned by Telefonica. So now you know.