microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin

On Sun, 9 Mar 2008 11:09:17 -0400, "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
wrote:

>Straight Talk wrote:
>> On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 16:43:53 -0800 (PST), penang@freemail.c3.hu wrote:
>>
>>> Last nite my PC behaves normally, but this morning, it took over 1
>>> hour to boot up the XP.
>>>
>>> Now, in the tasking tray, I see tons and tons of messages are being
>>> sent out !
>>>
>>> I have not configure this PC to send out emails. I use webmails. But
>>> now my PC is sending out tons and tons of emails !!
>>>
>>> The symantec norton antivirus is doing the "Symantec Email Scan" on
>>> those emails and the emails are jamming up the system.
>>>
>>> What can I do ????
>>>
>>> What software should I use to remove this security breach ????
>>>
>>> Please help !!!!
>>>
>>> Thank you !!
>>
>> You should of course revert to the latest known clean state - which
>> ultimately means flatten and rebuild.
>
>Well, that's a bit dire - it may not be at all necessary.

Problem is, you wouldn't be able to tell whether it is or not unless
you have a baseline.

>It *might* be, but it isn't the first thing I'd try.

Trial and error against malware is a common but very stupid approach.