Acceptable Use
of University
Computing Facilities
Oregon State University
Administrative Policies
and Procedures

Network support:

Web support:

Computing Support:
Frequently Asked Questions

Q. I am getting replies to email messages that I didn't send?

A. There are several worms making their way around the Internet right now. They arrive as attachments on an email message. When the attachment is executed, it looks for address books and begins mailing itself to the addresses it finds. To cause even more confusion, it randomly picks an address from the list and uses that as the "From" address on the messages it sends. Since, most virus protection software automatically replies to the address in the "From" field when it detects a virus delivered via email, an innocent person gets a message that they are sending out viruses...

The most recent worms will show up in your mailbox with the following subject lines: test, hi, hello, Mail Delivery System Mail Transaction Failed, Server Report Status Error

What can you do? Unfortunately there is no way to prevent someone or something from sending email that looks like it came from your address. You can help keep the problem from getting worse:

Avoid clicking on strange attachments.

Make sure you have antiviral software on your computer and that you update the definitions regularly (We do that for you on computers that are attached to the ROOTS network.) Norton Antivirus is available free of charge to faculty, staff, and students on the OSUware 2004 CD. For information about the CD and how to obtain one, see this Computer Consulting.