Eamail MS virus

[bwarner]

Recently I have been getting emails which are apparently from Microsoft that each has a virus - w32.swen.a@mm. I get a few of these emails each day and try to delete them from the preview pane of Outlook before I open them, but usually the virus is detected as soon as I put my mouse over the message. Also, I am getting a number of messsages that are labeled "undeliverable mail" that contain the same virus. Can someone tell me how to get rid of this virus(s)? Thanks.

Barry

 

[FatesWebb]

if the virus is detected is it not deleted what av program do you run?

FatesWebb

if you do what I suggested it is not my fault...

 

[cmeagan656]

Unless your IE, Outlook, and O/S are patched to the max DO NOT use preview pane. If you don't have the correct patches in place just selecting the email can cause the attachment to open.

As far as the messsages that are labeled "undeliverable mail" are concerned, set up a rule in Outlook that will permanently delte them from your mailbox. Swen.a spoofs email addresses so even if you weren't responsible for sending the email you'll get the bounce back if you were unlucky enough to be in the address book of someone who is infected and Swen.a selects your address to us in the "From:" line.

Cheers.

 

[bwarner]

Thanks for the reply. I use Outlook XP with all the patches, but still when I move the mouse over the message in the inbox, a virus is detected (Norton Anti Virus) in these emails. Do you know how I can configure Outlook so I can delete the message before it opens it? Do you know how I can stop these messages from coming? The subject changes so often that the message rules are ineffective in trying to block them.

Barry

 

[cmeagan656]

Instead of blocking by subject you could block set up a rule blocking by specific words in the body. Swen.A has .exe and .zip attachments so the specific words would be .exe and .zip.

Depending on your situation you can either set the rule to delete them to the deleted items folder (where you could review them to make sure that no legitimate email got caught) or permanently delete them. I'd lean on setting them to be deleted to the deleted items folder (since I get legitimate .zip files) and then set another rule (identical, but name it something else and don't select it to run automatically) to permanently delete them. Then after you've checked your deleted items folder and removed any mail that was accidentally caugth manually run the second rule on the deleted items folder.

I did this 3 years ago, before a decent Exchange virus scanner capbable of blocking attachments was available, with .vbs and it worked like a charm.

Even if you're only able to block .exe attachments you're going to greatly reduce the number of infected emails getting through.