Over the last week I have received over 2000 emails

[Wapping]

I am posting this on behalf of a freiend of mine. Any help very much welcome.

Over the last week I have received over 2000 emails all titled "Mailer Deamon Undeliverable" or "Postmaster Undeliverable" almost as if I have sent hundreds of emails to an address that don't exist and they have bounced back. They are from all over the place.
They are coming at a rate of 3 - 5 minutes 24 hours a day, even when the machine is switched off, so I can't be generating then.
On Monday morning there were 1150 waiting for me. I've done Norton anti virus, Housecall anti virus, Spyware etc etc, all showed a clean bill of health. I've spoken to AOL online help but am getting nowhere. Any Ideas anyone ?????

 

[Bateman]

This might offer some guidance.

 

[Kropotkin]

I occasionally get these e-mails (though I've never had 2000). Usually, it means that someone has sent out a run of spam e-mails, using your e-mail address as the sender. They do not need access to your computer or your internet provider to do this, as the SMTP protocol (the protocol used on the internet for sending e-mail) doesn't require that a sender be authenticated. In other words, you can send e-mail as whoever you like. However, most ISPs and mail system administrators configure their software to stop this. But not all, so there are thousands of computers on the internet which allow people to send e-mail without any verification of their identity. These computers are found and abused by spammers. Your friend was probably just unlucky to have his e-mail address chosen at random.

 

[Fanum]

If he's happy that he's not infected and it's someone else's PC doing the sending, it's fairly easy to set up the Email client to refuse emails from that address.....different clients work in different ways to do it but a poke around the tools>options menu should reveal how to do it.

 

[Wapping]

Many thanks for the help. I will pass it on to my mate. Sadly he rides a Triumph / Honda but now he can see the added value of owning a BMW!