email virus

[neocronix]

So, my parents have windows live mail on their pc and laptop with three different email accounts and people have said they have been receiving a suspicious email with a link. Since my parents are in their contact list, the emails dont automatically go to their spamfolder. Now i'm doing a full system scan with avira which is almost done, but hasnt found anything. The mails were sent from two different email accounts so far. I think the pc and laptop were turned off while some mails were received, but i'm not sure. Also these suspicious mails dont show in the sent folder.

 

Does anyone have any ideas of what i can do?

[PlayStation 2]

Did they click on anything?

If no, then don't worry about it.

[Nexxus]

change the passwords

[Techdude154]

You can also run a scan with malwarebytes and adwcleaner. I would also avoid using any program based email clients if possible unless it has actual security. I would use something actively maintained like thunderbird

[neocronix]

Did they click on anything?

If no, then don't worry about it.

My dad received the same mail he is sending out to all his contacts, yet he didn't click on anything he just moved it to his spam folder.

[neocronix]

change the passwords

Well, my parents have to find the original passwords first, which might take a while...

[neocronix]

You can also run a scan with malwarebytes and adwcleaner. I would also avoid using any program based email clients if possible unless it has actual security. I would use something actively maintained like thunderbird

Will try malwarebytes and adwcleaner. I installed thunderbird first, but ran into a lot of issues while windows live mail worked immediatly.

[DarthSlater77]

User education AKA don't click on crap. As long as email exist spam will exist. 

[Tsuki]

Did they click on anything?

If no, then don't worry about it.

i wish this were still true with e-mail.  mail programs that allow you to preview a message prior to actually opening it, actually still can infect you. if it was just a link to a virus he should be fine as long as he didnt click it, however if the virus/malware was embedded in the body of the e-mail(which is really easy to do, and sounds like what happened), he is still at risk. 

 

run malwarebytes, adwcleaner couldnt hurt, maybe spybot s&d

[Ekpyrosis]

i wish this were still true with e-mail.  mail programs that allow you to preview a message prior to actually opening it, actually still can infect you. if it was just a link to a virus he should be fine as long as he didnt click it, however if the virus/malware was embedded in the body of the e-mail(which is really easy to do, and sounds like what happened), he is still at risk. 

 

run malwarebytes, adwcleaner couldnt hurt, maybe spybot s&d

That's why people should read their emails in plain text and not in html.

[Tsuki]

That's why people should read their emails in plain text and not in html.

i agree, but some mail programs dont give you that choice.  i personally use webmail instead of a desktop program(which is probably less safe), but i also dont have people saved as contacts, so i dont worry about anything sending stuff to everybody i know