My pc's relaying spam. How do I find it & stop it?

I know my pc's relaying spam because I get reject messages from yahoo about
failure to deliver. I sent 1 of these emails and the 2 files it contained off
to AVG (whose AV I use) for inspection. They came back quickly and said yes
it was spam but contained no viruses.

Can anyone recommend a program or method for removing this? My gut feeling
is that it is hidden somewhere but I've run SCU.exe and that didn't finf. I
also ran Hijack This but don't know enough to be sure of what I'm looking at.
I've also installed mynetwatchman.

This happening on both Vista RC2 and on XP64.

"Spirefm" <Spirefm@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8D74D5B9-5BF0-4AC8-BCCA-9CCFF58DCD5C@microsoft.com...
>I know my pc's relaying spam because I get reject messages from yahoo about
> failure to deliver. I sent 1 of these emails and the 2 files it contained
> off
> to AVG (whose AV I use) for inspection. They came back quickly and said
> yes
> it was spam but contained no viruses.
>
> Can anyone recommend a program or method for removing this? My gut feeling
> is that it is hidden somewhere but I've run SCU.exe and that didn't finf.
> I
> also ran Hijack This but don't know enough to be sure of what I'm looking
> at.
> I've also installed mynetwatchman.
>
> This happening on both Vista RC2 and on XP64.
>
>

First, the fact that you get those notices doesn't necessarily mean that
you're infected. It could be from any other machine that has you in their
Address Book. The malware then pulls addresses off their hard drive to
spoof the from field.

Help with malware:
All MS-MVP Sites.
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
For quite a few people it's by installing Messenger Plus, whose ads for
malware don't identify the malware as such and try to convince you that you
owe it to the author. See also:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971
Don't ever do a "default" install of anything. Always choose Custom and see
what else is being carried along. Don't install any extras you're not sure
of.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Answer in newsgroup. Don't send mail.

"Spirefm" <Spirefm@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8D74D5B9-5BF0-4AC8-BCCA-9CCFF58DCD5C@microsoft.com...
>I know my pc's relaying spam because I get reject messages from yahoo about
> failure to deliver. I sent 1 of these emails and the 2 files it contained
> off
> to AVG (whose AV I use) for inspection. They came back quickly and said
> yes
> it was spam but contained no viruses.
>
> Can anyone recommend a program or method for removing this? My gut feeling
> is that it is hidden somewhere but I've run SCU.exe and that didn't finf.
> I
> also ran Hijack This but don't know enough to be sure of what I'm looking
> at.
> I've also installed mynetwatchman.
>
> This happening on both Vista RC2 and on XP64.
>
>

Oops!
I don't know if any of those programs even run in Vista.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Answer in newsgroup. Don't send mail.

Thanks Frank. I'll have alook at thos sites. Funnily enough the Microsoft
notification to me of your reply anded up getting relayed to other email
addresses of mine and then back to me again. I installed SpamWeed and that
put it in the junk folder. I only saw just now it 'cos I'm checking how well
SpamSeed works.
>
> Oops!
> I don't know if any of those programs even run in Vista.
>
> --
> Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
> http://www.fjsmjs.com
> Answer in newsgroup. Don't send mail.
>
>

As Frank said, either someone you know that has your email in their contacts
is infected or you use online forums with your actual email and it's been
harvested. It's also a trojan if there is a msg attachment of your supposed
msg and you open it.. hello, I'm infected. That's another fave of
botbuddies to secure a botnet. Not to say you don't have a problem but if
you were infected with a spambot you'd notice one hellava lot of traffic
going on.

"Spirefm" <Spirefm@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:768D935D-9568-4ECD-B04F-6A91E0423F86@microsoft.com...
>
> Thanks Frank. I'll have alook at thos sites. Funnily enough the Microsoft
> notification to me of your reply anded up getting relayed to other email
> addresses of mine and then back to me again. I installed SpamWeed and that
> put it in the junk folder. I only saw just now it 'cos I'm checking how
> well
> SpamSeed works.
>>
>> Oops!
>> I don't know if any of those programs even run in Vista.
>>
>> --
>> Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
>> http://www.fjsmjs.com
>> Answer in newsgroup. Don't send mail.
>>
>>