Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of jfolgert
jfolgert

asked on

Computer is trying to send out many many emails. Norton System Works is providing a message: "Your email message was unable to be sent because your mail server rejected the message"

I too am having an issue similar to the one posted on 7/13/06.  Symantec warning: "Your email message was unable to be sent because your mail server rejected the message".

There are a series of boxes which appear - each with a different number of out-going emails.  The other odd thing is that the internet is very active, and the network shows our computer is receiving information (we have no other updates or active downloads).

Some show 207, 1021, 68.  The numbers appear random.  These appear to beoutgoing emails to what seems random users are "trying to be sent out".  Many have a yahoo address.  Symantec appears to error-out with messages saying "Your email message was unable to be sent because your mail server rejected the message".

I am running Windows XP pro sp2 and my email client is MS Outlook Express.  I'm using 2006 Norton SystemWorks 2006 .  I am seeking a solution to find the cause of this bugger.

I've unstalled Norton System Works 2006 and reinstalled (thinking the NSW was compromised).  This did not resolve the issue.  

I've also loaded Microsoft's Defender (Beta 2) x86 and the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (KB890830).  Both reported no errors of problems with our system.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of r-k
r-k

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of jfolgert
jfolgert

ASKER

Thanks r-k

I spent the day researching options to get our system back to a stable state.  I could not find a great deal of explinations specific to the problem.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Through numerous tests, I found the problem to be the following:

PdPinch.b  trojan  (with 3 objects on the system), combined with the Avalon-Spammer trojan.

they have been removed and this appears to have solved the issue.  (4 hours strong, and still going).



Thank you

That's great. You may want to run Ewido anyway, in case something got left behind.

Another good option at this point is to do an online scan at: http://safety.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm
It takes a while so do it when you have idle time for a couple of hours, but it's fairly complete.
Thanks for comments,

This was a frustrating issue.  I'll keep an eye on activity and report any issues if they arise again.   I tested a few trojan/virus seaching programs (did not try Ewido  yet (thanks  r-k !) nor the on-line link you provided - but hope to soon).  

The app. that found and apparently erraticated the issue was CounterSpy 1.5.  We'll see if the problem returns.  I'd like to find the source.  We exchange mapping / GIS data often. We also have Semantic / Norton System Works 2006 which did not find the issue.


Thank you

 

"I'd like to find the source"

The most likely reason for such infections is one of the following:

(1) System not patched with latest Windows updates.
(2) Easy to hack passwords (avoid common names and dictionary words)
(3) Windows firewall not enabled
(4) Someone clicked on an email link or attachment
(5) Someone clicked on the wrong web pop-up.

I'm not too surprised Norton did not catch it, there are whole classes of malware it can't find. In addition to Norton, I would suggest installing Windows Defender on your XP workstations http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx It is free and quite effective against spyware/malware.
My laptop had the exact virus.  The virus attaches itself to Norton's ccApp.exe rendering NAV useless (unless you turn off email scanning).  Uninstalling & re-installing NAV won't fix it and forget about Windows Defender as it won't detect it either.  The virus is actually classified as a Trojan (exact name I forgot) and was easily removed by downloading the 30 day trial of F-Secure http://www.f-secure.com/home_user/support_and_downloads/evaluations/

PS.  I became infected by executing a download from the P2P network (evil shit).  That's the risk you take ;^)

Hope I've been of some assistance...

Paul