Peggy wants to stop disgusting emails
I do not surf the net nor do I go browsing.  I do purchase from reputable sites but some how my address has been picked up by a p*orn site. ever in my life have I visited one of these sites.  I am a senior citizen and my computer is used by no one but me. I have done everything possible except change my email address to stop this including setting filters and blocked senders on my server but I am still getting this disgusting mail.  I do not open it but block the sender by clicking on the preview.  What can I do?  Thank you.  Peg (I use Firefox)

Our Answer
Hi Peggy. We see that you're using Outlook Express, so we'll base our answer on that, although this answer would apply just as well to any other email program - except for the preview pane advice we give you near the end. The preview pane only applies to Windows Mail and Outlook Express.

OK let's try to answer you question. First, you must have been on the Web to fill out our Web form just to ask this question - the important thing that you remember is that browsing or surfing doesn't give your email address away. You're not going to increase your chances of getting spam or other unwanted email just by surfing the Web - the two have nothing to do with each other.

Your problem is most likely that one or more of the people you frequently send email to or correspond with has become infected with a Trojan which had made their computer a part of a botnet. Computers infected with this sort of Trojan can send thousands of emails with any content the one who controls the botnet decides to send - including p*orn emails. It's disgusting but it's probably not your fault. Friends of yours who are infected don't know their computers are sending out hundreds or thousands of emails each day either. They are not sent via the email client, they are sent by the Trojan. So anyone you've emailed  recently could be the reason you're getting these kinds of emails. Since they would have no idea that their computers are infected, they might think you're crazy if you approach them about it - especially if they have no idea what Trojans and botnets are. For a good description of botnets - what they are and how they work, see this page.

Since the subject lines and content of these emails changes so frequently and because the "From" address is just a random email address these kinds of emails are nearly impossible to block. Block Sender does not work well for these kinds of emails - and message rules you create to block these kinds of email often fail because the emails change so much from one to the other.

So, there's no easy answer to your question. The only way you're going to stop these kinds of emails is by getting rid of your email address and getting a new one. If you do that and then, after a time, you start getting these disgusting emails again, you'll know one or more of your friends is infected. How you handle that is up to you, they're your friends, but you need to gently make sure that your friends are protected by good anti-virus and a couple good antispyware/antimalware programs.

Your ISP probably provides you with up to 10 email addresses - so you can get one from there - or you can get a Gmail address and set it up in Outlook Express - Gmail's Web site has complete instructions on how to easily set up Gmail in Outlook Express ( or most other email programs).

You must make sure that your computer is not and never will become an unwilling and unknowing participant in a botnet. Make sure you have have good antivirus and antispyware programs installed and always keep them updated with the most recent updates. Make sure your Windows firewall is turned on. Don't click links in email you're not sure of  and don't open attachments unless your positive you know where they came from, what they are, and you were expecting them. You can't control what your friends and family install on their computers but you can gently guide them into making sure they run good antivirus and antispyware programs. There's a better than even chance that someone you correspond with is infected and their computer is part of a botnet. They wouldn't be aware of it - every email being sent by the malware from their computer would be sent without them knowing it.

One other thing you can do to help yourself is to turn off the Preview Pane in Outlook Express. It's very simple to turn off the preview pane - just open Outlook Express, click "View" (on the toolbar), then click "Layout". Uncheck "Show preview pane". Now when your email comes in you'll see the sender, subject, date, and time. If it is from a recognizable source you simply double-click the mail to open it. If you know it's spam you can delete it without opening it and if you're not sure, you can right-click on it, select Properties, Details and then click "Message Source". You'll be able to read all the email headers and message there, in a protected environment, without opening the email at all. If you determine it's spam, you can then delete it. If it's legitimate you can close the Properties dialog and double-click the message to open it. With the preview pane turned off, at least you won't have to look at those disgusting pictures.