General Chat

14 today!

Two of these..

"eBay"
but really ... horace@ dewey.dpbp.sena.igottadowhatigottado.top :-D

"Primark"
but really .... kennedy @history.3b15.haiilemail.westillhavethat patchbythetop

:-| :-| :-|

I'm thinking seriously of deleting my gmail account now!

Thanks Linda :-)

I will now be brave enough to try it out :-D

Avast safe zone is good. When I want to go onto a bank account or any sort of financial account, I open the safe zone and go to the site I want from inside the safe zone. The Bank mode inside the Safezone opens a virtual desktop inside your computer, so that the session is isolated from keyloggers, anyone looking for your passwords or data.

It is a safer way to connect to financial sites, if you have Avast, you should definitely use the Safezone

Thanks Rollo :-)

Thank You Everyone :-)

Avast is ok, well pretty good actually.. Stay with the free version.

Do not run nore than one AV p;ogram at once.. If you do it will slow down yr machine and cause false positives.

malwarebytes basic is free
dl a new version and run it once a month it will weed out all sorts of junk

A common way in which people pick up spam generating browser busting malware is by installing free/trial software and not being reall careful with the install and rejecting optional junk. Freemake, the Flash downbloader, is a good example. It is sade, works well BUT the defalt install has a passel of adware which of course is what pays for the "free" program.

Now Microsoft have got into the act with their "Windows Store" you cannot be too careful!

It is impossble to fully secure a desktop or laptop computer in a SOHO environment. Businesses use border routers and other expensive stuff ( or should ) but home users are in much the same position as chickens in a hen coop with a hole and Mr Fox lurking outside. So run malwarebytes regularly and keep yr browser up to date. Never run Internet Explorer, any version. Edge is fine.

Some ISPs eg Virgin will allow you to install yr own router and this can greatly improve security but most people have no idea how to set one up for good security. The latest BT HomeHub is pretty good but all the others are not.

If yr router allows it change the DNS to that of Open DNS. This will give you a sig. speed up and markedly reduce tracking from cookies esp with Open DNS.

Always keep a backup of yr passwords and data offline or in the cloud. Then if disaster strikes it is no more than an inconvenience.

good luck

Thanks for that advice Rollo :-)
You recommended a free malware program a while back, that could be used in conjunction with Avast Free Antivirus. Do you remember what it was, please?

Also, Avast downloaded (without asking me first, so I hope it is Avast) a browser called Avast Safezone. I've been too nervous to try it out!
Do you, as our resident techie know anything about it?

Would appreciate your input please :-)

There are several malware programs which once installed will result in lots of spam plus alterations to search parameters and so on. Two such are "Superfish" and its variations and Lavasoft products. The latter are marketed as supporessing spam and malware which is a good joke.

I ALWAYS hover the mouse over any link or email address given when I don't regconise the sender, or the email is from a company that I don't normally do business with online ...........

99% of the time, that will show a very strange address.

Those emails go straight to Junk, and then I also delete them from there immediately ........... on my Microsoft programme that is the only way that I have discovered to delete spam and junk from my computer.


Just be VERY careful that you do not click the mouse by accident and thus open the shady email.

6 more today .... at least the number are going down

ALL CONS

1 from "eBay"
address
westview
@ . ......... WAIT FOR IT! .....

Conningtowers :-D :-Dnautilus spark.40d.1alanson.hewasapioneero (and then it runs out of space!)

1 from "LIDL" .... is really from .... Gerasim (GET A SIM! :-D)

Sebewaing is still trying hard pretending to be from IKEA.
This time he/she is trying a different addy
sebewaing @forgetful ...........

:-0 :-0 :-0 :-0 :-0

2 more have arrived.

There seem to be less coming in since I mass deleted them lol!

1. Costco
visible line: "Your purchase #25487- Your historical purchase has brought you here to receive £150 from us COSTCO.COM,UK Dear .............

Real address:
lesa
@sthelens.5550.alba.nhxyglat.us


2. eDF
visible line: "You deserve this gift card- eDF Energy Our own way of saying "Thank you"! dear .......... We give you this voucher to say "Thank you" just f"

Real Address:
sebewaing
@burney.Ob12.oriental.ryoxjniz.us


Thank Goodness GMail is sending them straight to Spam and not into the promotions section, where all my legit sites e.g. Argos, FMP, Ancestry, Asda etc go. :-0

Just had an Email from Hamburg, Germany asking me to do a "Paid Survey" (payment 50p!!!)

If I want to opt out I have to go on to their Website and fill in my details !!
Oh no I won't.

Gremlins .... :-S

(My favourite CHRISTMAS film.)

I don't know what I hovered over in the email list but must have clicked something because several spam emails now display Chinese (or similar) letters. Makes it easy to spot them.

Done it again below simply by clicking something (although just descriptive of message).

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252
{\fonttbl\f0\fnil\fcharset0 .HelveticaNeueInterface-Regular;}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue0;}
\deftab720
\pard\pardeftab720\partightenfactor0

\f0\fs34 \cf0 \expnd0\expndtw0\kerning0
\outl0\strokewidth0 \strokec2 \
}

TODAY'S SPAM SHOCKER

.....A WARNING TO EVERYONE

The first of today's Spam has arrived ...

M&S
The first line reads (I obviously will not click on it but the first line can be seen)

"Up to 70% off selected items at M&S. my email addy.. This is not a gift card.. It's an M&S Gift Card..One of the nations shining jewels in th "


M&S? ...... NO!! :-0 :-0 :-| :-| :-|
Hovering your mouse over the company name of M&S reveals the sender.

tricky
@edgemontpark.e396.tohatchi.moleculescary.gdn


PEEPS ....DELETE YOUR SPAM STRAIGHT AWAY!
Also .... even legitimate emails .... do the hover test to be on the safe side, or your security could be badly compromised! :-( :-( :-(

SPAM UPDATE!

Having read Bob's post, I logged back in to my gmail account.
I hovered the mouse over the spam companies names ...

..... and they are all dodgy addresses! most from abroad.
I am assuming that they are potential security risks!
Thankfully, I deleted them all instead of opening them.

So, thanks Bob :-)

Thanks for your responses Everyone :-)

Another puzzling thing that is happening-

I have Facebook Account that I have never ever used. I only have it to "steal" family photos from their Facebook pages.
Nearly everyday, I get a gmail from Facebook telling me there are notifications there in my Facebook Account
Yesterday, the gmail said it was now 53 notifications.

Yet every time I check, there are no notifications there!
Now what's that all about? :-S :-S :-S :-S :-D

i have had "You have won a £xxx voucher" from aldi ,argos alsorts of companies etc...but the "office" address is somewhere in america........or

.eu

Jem I had a very similar problem when they changed 'the platform?' or something for my emails a few months ago. I was getting dozens every day and it was doing my head in trying to keep up with 'unsubscribing' and deleting. Then I couldn't unsubscribe from some as they took too long to load the unsubscribe screen!! Others had no way to unsubscribe and then I got others that would only let me 'snooze' them for 3 months. Now I block them by sending them to spam and it's making a big difference. The trouble is I get the impression that those that have got my email address somehow are selling on to others as new ones have cropped up!! :-S :-S

Argos is the only place I have come across this - so far. The man in Argos is very nice though. If I say "No, thanks", his response is "Just a moment," pause and he hands me the receipt.

Our email is BT and we were told once, when we had a similar problem with unwanted junk emails, not to waste time deleting all the spam. Eventually it falls off the end all by itself! (After 30 days, in our case.)

It's strange, but when I ask for the paper receipt, rather than being sent one, some sales assistants act like I'm being 'stroppy' - I then have to explain to them why - and often (as by now, I AM stroppy) inform them that just giving me the receipt would, by now, have save 5 precious minutes of my life!!

My local supermarket has now given up offering me a 'loyalty' card.
They used to offer - I refused politely.
If they dared ask me why, I'd explain that I don't want my purchase choices 'analysed' by faceless idiots as part of some faux 'survey', and my lifestyle decided on what is, essentially merely a small part of my food shopping.

In other words, they'd think I was some alcoholic with a weird lust for cheese, cream, eggs and desserts :-| (main shopping is done elsewhere) :-D