The short answer: switch to Google's gmail.
But I won't be doing that because I want to spread my privacy erosion over several services, and don't want everything bunched up on Google. Especially because if some thin-skinned nerd doesn't like what you post or blog on G+, he can abuse report you, you will have no right to face your accuser or appeal or even know what the offense is, and then Google can ban you *not only from that service, but all Google services across all their products*. And they tell you that in their TOS. It's frightful and egregious overreach, but nobody ever objects -- the place is filled with vicious Google fanboyz -- and the employees of Google are the worst. As soon as I got one of those warnings -- for no reason I could tell except criticizing Sergey Brin on some post and putting a link to my blog on some other people's comments, I removed anything of value I had on those Google services like Google docs or whatever, and I vowed not to move to gmail. Just not worth it.
But Yahoo mail is so god-awul that I actually keep my paid Juno account just so that I have a backup to Yahoo that isn't Google, especially for work projects.
Yahoo mail has been spectacularly bad this year and I keep tweeting Marissa Meyer, the new CEO, about this because it needs to be fixed, it's probably their most used product -- I'll use their email and look at their news service, but I won't use their search, just not good enough. Please don't babble to me about how the service is free and I can't complain. Verizon DSL, which I pay for, offers you an email account with that DSL line, with verizon.net in the name. But it was switched over to be used via Yahoo at some point -- they farmed out the job to Yahoo. So we pay for this Verizon/Yahoo account which works terribly. It hangs nearly every day; it loses attachments; it puts things in the spam folder after you've clicked that they are "not spam"; it loses things entirely and they aren't even in the spam file; the search hangs; etc. etc.
But I do like the interface better than Google and as I said, you need to diversify your privacy loss over several servers.
Yesterday, I got an email from a colleague with the description "hey" and inside "check this out" with a bitly link. Der, that was a virus. The guy was Russian and wouldn't write like that. But since I'd asked him to send me a link to an interview he did with me, I thought maybe it was legit -- I merely mouse-hovered over it, which is usually enough to tell whether something is bad or not -- i.e. all those really realistic-looking mails with bank logos that are fake and the Diablo "your account is being cancelled because we caught you selling it" messages (I never played Diablo in my life -- go away!).
I'm fairly certain I didn't click on what I knew had to be a bad link, but perhaps I did. Or maybe the mechanism was different. Or maybe one of the kids clicked on the same kind of mail they got. I don't know. The fact is, 24 hours later, I had literally hundreds of mail daemons and hundreds of people writing me that I was hacked, that they didn't know why I was sending such an odd "work at home" site to them, and lots of other jokes, like the Internet security guru who wrote, apparently snarkily, "what are your children's names" -- like I'd use them for passwords -- not!
I always wonder why people get upset over these kinds of email. Um, delete them? That's what I did when my colleague sent *me* the bad email -- obviously it wasn't his fault. I didn't even think to write him that he had malware -- he's on a big system that has people watching this stuff and why add to the traffic. But literally hundreds of people felt they had to tell me I was "hacked" -- because that is the word people use.
Even though a virus that goes out automatically by grabbing your email address list and re-sending it isn't quite the same as a hack that consciously breaks into your system -- but it's still within the realm of the meaning of "hack" as it is understood in the common usage.
I ran all the usual virus things -- I have Kaspersky, but Kaspersky hadn't found it to start with. Spybot picked up Wajam, but that's something different, and doesn't grab your address book for a re-send. It's annoying to get rid of, too, you have to edit the registry keys, etc. Malwarebytes seems to take forever -- hours -- to scan, so I did the critical scan and didn't find anything, the email folders, a few other things -- nothing. I started a long scan and tried to find some record of it online -- too many like it.
I decided that since what was happening is that I could still access the Internet and access Yahoo on other accounts and send email online, that maybe the trouble was Verizon, so I got on their help line. This frustrating chat ensused (below).
People like that in those jobs should at least tell you to try the obvious, Spybot, Malwarebytes, etc. and ask what virus protection you are running -- but that goes beyond "their job" and "their mandate". Annoying. It would have been nice for them just to clear that day's email off the queue so that those things didn't keep coming back to me and/or going out. It was blocking email that *I* tried to send out -- one wondered why it didn't block them to hundreds of people going out of my address book, you know? I don't see any good reason for that except that they have triggers or thresholds and don't trigger the block until a certain level passes or something.
I concluded all I could do was run the long Malwarebytes. I tried email again after several reboots and all of a sudden it was sending out again. So the help desk changed something? Or? It was already on quarantine?
Finally the long scan of Malwarebytes was done and a trojan was found and removed.
It didn't seem to have a very good name:
Files Infected:
C:\install.exe (Trojan.Agent) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
Funny how some people seemed to take an interest in me being "hacked" although it was just the usual email virus. Jillian York of Electronic Frontier Foundation asked why I sent her spam and asked if I was "hacked" - proof positive of the actual usage of this term if ever there was. I said I was sorry to disappoint, she had likely been looking forward to it.
- Your first and last name
- The first and last name of the account holder and your relationship with him/her.
- The Operating System (Window XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2000, Windows 7 or Macintosh) that you are using.
catherine fitzpatrick(18:11:40): Catherine Fitzpatrick
catherine fitzpatrick(18:11:46): Catherine Fitzpatrick -- self
catherine fitzpatrick(18:11:50): Windows Vista
Vibha(18:12:06): While I am checking your account details, may I have your preferred email address and preferred callback number? Could you confirm if this number accepts incoming calls from 800 or toll free numbers?
[x]
Vibha(18:21:41): Thank you.
Vibha(18:22:52): In order to resolve this particular issue, I'd like to start a screen sharing session that will allow me to see your screen and share your mouse and keyboard. You'll have primary control and can end the session at any time. Please close any confidential or private windows except the chat window before clicking "OK" on the forthcoming notice. Please continue to respond in the chat window every 5 minutes to avoid disconnection. May I begin?
catherine fitzpatrick(18:23:05): okay
Vibha(18:23:56): Thank you for your cooperation. Please click the following link to proceed:https://broker.gotoassist.com/h/verizondsl?Question=DR599-648-116
Vibha(18:24:01): After clicking on the above link, if you are asked to click on "Run"/ "Download"/ "Allow" then please do click on it.
Vibha(18:28:22): As you can see, I am able to move the mouse remotely. However your mouse will override mine. If at any time you are uncomfortable with the session, you can click the "red cross (X)" button in the "Go To Assist" rectangular box at the bottom right corner to discontinue the session.
Vibha(18:28:28): Please open your emails now.
catherine fitzpatrick(18:29:47): okay it's opened
Vibha(18:31:58): and please show what the error is.
catherine fitzpatrick(18:32:30): go in the sent queue and see that a virus grabbed the address book and sent out all those emails with a malicious link
catherine fitzpatrick(18:33:32): Now note that after just attempting to send out an email, I got the error message "Suspicious activity was detected on your account. "
Vibha(18:34:02): That can be a virus.
Vibha(18:34:22): you must not open links of untrusted sites.
catherine fitzpatrick(18:34:28): well obviously it's a virus. It is not detected on my computer by three different programs, so it must be on your servers, I access this mail on yahoo.com
catherine fitzpatrick(18:34:43): I didn't open up links of untrusted sites. I got an email like this, I opened it up, I did not click on the link. But then it grabbed my address book.
Vibha(18:36:03): May be you went on some website.,
catherine fitzpatrick(18:36:44): Again: when I log out of this account and go on my other Yahoo account catfitzny, email goes out fine.
Vibha(18:36:49): and there sre specific programs on internet, whenever you access them or register in them, they would ask for your email and then save it and send these kind of links..
catherine fitzpatrick(18:36:55): When I go on Juno.com and try email from there, it goes out fine.
Vibha(18:37:19): Because you got email on this account.
catherine fitzpatrick(18:37:19): Only Verizon is blocking this now, so it's something on your server -- it's malware that is received in my queue
Vibha(18:37:44): Maybe you used this account to register into some website.
catherine fitzpatrick(18:37:55): No I didn't register in any website
catherine fitzpatrick(18:38:16): The only thing I am finding on Spybot is Wajam, but wajam is annoying, it doesn't grab your address book and resend malware
catherine fitzpatrick(18:38:51): This virus is not being found on my computer by Kaspersky or Malwarebytes
Vibha(18:40:32): Some viruses or trojans always leave your computer when the dist is restored.
Vibha(18:40:37): disk*
Vibha(18:40:52): There is nothing that we can do from our end.
catherine fitzpatrick(18:41:10): Well if that's the case, there is something I can do from my end, and that is switch to gmail : )
Vibha(18:41:20): However Let me consult it with my team.
catherine fitzpatrick(18:41:20): if that's how you want to solve problems, we'll do it that way : )
Vibha(18:41:40): Okay : )
Vibha(18:41:55): Do whatever, because this is not a verizon issue : )
catherine fitzpatrick(18:41:56): This is a known virus that I received via Yahoo Verizon email to my computer but I'm not finding it on my computer. So you can be a little more curious and see what bitly viruses are spreading and how they might be removed
catherine fitzpatrick(18:42:24): Okay, when you "find it is not a Verizon issue" then...the customer goes to another phone service where they might be interested to make it an issue : )
catherine fitzpatrick(18:42:25): bye
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