Computer help please

[Freedom]

It's fun!

Um . . . OK. (All Greek to me, sorry!)

[Hellow]

If you're talking different A/V software, I use Avast! Antivirus on all of my Windows computers (the two that they are - the majority are Linux and one Mac).

If we're talking email, then here's a funny tip: Almost everything about an email can be spoofed. The way that servers identify if an email is from a spoofed host or not is by taking the IP address that the email originates from and grab the reverse data for it. If the reverse data matches the email's "@whatever.com" address, then it lets it pass. If it doesn't, then it'll probably drop it, or check the domain records of the correct reverse host for the "@whatever.com" domain to see if that mail server is authorized to deliver email for the domain.

The IP address *cannot* be spoofed. That's a server-to-server thing, not something that the sender can control. The IP address is the same address of the sending email server, which isn't something that can be changed with much ease and certainly can't be spoofed by a regular user.

The example in this case:
IP Address: 177.17.118.178
Reverse data for that IP address: 177.17.118.178.static.host.gvt.net.br (by the way, that host doesn't even exist, and "gvt.net.br" sends me to a Portuguese site, so something's iffy)
From address: yahoo.com
Should Yahoo's MX reject it or at least Junk-folder it: Yes.

This is what an actual message from Yahoo should look like:
MX [Mail Server] Non-authoritative answer:
yahoo.com mail exchanger = 1 mta6.am0.yahoodns.net. IP: 66.94.236.34
yahoo.com mail exchanger = 1 mta7.am0.yahoodns.net. IP: 66.94.237.64
yahoo.com mail exchanger = 1 mta5.am0.yahoodns.net. IP: 209.191.88.254

It's really hard for me to tell because Yahoo probably has a God-like amount of email servers (and that's probably just a few) but doing a reverse lookup on an IP should show something.yahoo.com, not what you got above.

I hope this helps you.

This is the fun knowledge that I get from hosting my own email server and doing computer system and network security. It's interesting, to say the least.

[pomtzu]

Um . . . OK. (All Greek to me, sorry!)

Ditto - I'm in the same boat with you, Sandie!

I do know that I had a lot of problems when I was using Norton, and actually paying for it. I've been using the free version of AVG for a couple of years now, and so far, no problems that I am aware of.

[pomtzu]

I've noticed something odd these past couple of weeks in junk emails showing up in my spam file. I've been getting a lot of mail in foreign languages - French, and I think German. Anyone else getting any of these?

[Freedom]

Nope.

But since the first of the year, I am inundated with Viagra related spam, and Married Sexy Women looking for partners spam. Thank goodness Yahoo has a spam folder, and I can just delete all of it at one go!

[Karen]

Count yourself fortunate to only be getting bombarded with those now! I get spam in character sets -Mandarin, Korean, Punjabi - that I don't even recognize, never mind know how to read! And I get dating and "foreign" bride spam all the time, despite being a) female, and b) long-married and NOT in the market!

[AvaJoy]

. . . I've been using the free version of AVG for a couple of years now, and so far, no problems that I am aware of.

I have been using the same, and once a week scan with free malwarebytes. I only had one problem AVG missed, but Malwarebytes found it. My computer genius friend is considering switching to AVAST this winter, once he is certain it is superior to AVG.

[SWHouston]

Not too many of you know this, but I'm a Mod on Digital Television Forum, which assist people in installing their own TV Antenna for the reception of free Local HDTV.
HA, just in case you're interested it's at...
http://www.dtvusaforum.com/forum/
(just thought I'd take the opportunity to Spam a little )

Anyway, to get to the point...
The owner of DTVUSA decided to create a new Site, which assisted those who only spoke Spanish. I have limited ability in that area, and was glad to help. He had to shut it down recently.

I personally was deleting over 100 spam Posts TWICE A DAY, and I was one of three Mods which worked the Forum. I just have never seen any other instance where the Spammers were so aggressive, which included everything from Viagra to XXX. Additionally, it didn't matter that I banned the User as well, given that much of the Posting were done by a "bot", which is a Computer generated Posting. It became so intense, that he just shut it down and I really was upset about that. So many of our Latino friends need that kind of help, and well... I'm just really ticked off about it being totally out of our control to control.

[Freedom]

The bichon forum I am on has a huge issue with spam - bots, as well. They have blocked several domains which seem to use them; with the result that some bichon folks who use that domain are not able to join us. They also are deleting well over 100 spam postings per day.

[Karen]

There are things that can be done on the server end, SWhouston, he might try getting a server at a different company and having a good firewall installed. As you all probably noticed, we are moving servers this weekend.

[Hellow]

I personally was deleting over 100 spam Posts TWICE A DAY, and I was one of three Mods which worked the Forum. I just have never seen any other instance where the Spammers were so aggressive, which included everything from Viagra to XXX. Additionally, it didn't matter that I banned the User as well, given that much of the Posting were done by a "bot", which is a Computer generated Posting. It became so intense, that he just shut it down and I really was upset about that. So many of our Latino friends need that kind of help, and well... I'm just really ticked off about it being totally out of our control to control.

There are two things you could have done that come to mind instantly:

1. You could have enabled moderator checking of new registered users. Most spambots aren't smart enough to use normal nicknames when they register.
2. You could have implemented a server or network-side blacklist of common spam hostnames and IP addresses. That would have eliminated most of the spam and cut it down so the administrators could handle the cases that get through.

[SWHouston]

Karen, Hellow,

Thank both of you for your very informative replies.

I'll pass that information along.

Thanks again,
S.W.