Automatic Downloads....uuurghh!

I keep getting getting emails that have a persons name in the title and a tagline that will say something to the effect of " Save $500 a month on your home mortgage." The wrinkle is that if you happen to click any of these that you are taken to an internet porn site. I don't go to porn sites, so how did I get this stuff in my email box? Also there are auto downloads that happen with some of these messages and they are usually jpeg's or mpg's of, you guessed it, porno. My wife is understandably furious with me for this. Even though I have tried to explain that I didn't do this. I have used all the blocks and filters from my email provider (MSN) and still this stuff is getting in my account. Tell me there is something I can do to rid me of this nuisance once and for all before I wind up in divorce court. Thanks, Rob White

Greetings and welcome to TomCoyote.com!

May your day be blessed by those you love and those you love be blessed by HIM. - Coyote

Rob, you're just a victim of SPAM.

The safest and best way to solve your problem is this - just delete mail from people/organizations you do not recognize as being "friendly".

I'm not familiar with MSN's "filters'. But I do know it's not a good practice to open email from people you don't recognize. Maybe MSN has a place on their site to help you with "filters".

This link may be helpful:

http://email.about.com/cs/hotmailtips/qt/et102101.htm

And (in my opinion), it's not a good idea to "unsubscribe" from a lot of SPAM because it just verifies the existence of your email account, and invites more SPAM.

Gosh, I hope this helps.

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately I've tried all of that and no dice. So my solution has been to close the account and reopen another one under the same address. MSN assures me this will work to resolve the issue as it will show the account closed on their client list that gets hacked by spammers. We'll see about that. Never-the-less I'll keep fighting the good fight even if I have to shun the use of Microsoft products entirely. I no longer use IE for the web I use Opera. Maybe that is the answer to all my problems, Boycott MS! Thanks, Rob White

hey robwhite,

If you use outlook express, you need to " tighten it up" it will by default download images, scripts etc just like internet explorer, here is a link, http://www.geocities.com/isogonicus/
ihave no shame, its my web page about security, vist the link on the left about outlook express security about half way down the page, it may help you. good luck