Getting emails from the "countryplans team"

[John Raabe]

I have started getting spam messages from "webmaster@countryplans.com" with email attachments telling me that my registration has expired, there was a problem with my signup, etc.

These bogus messages are cheerfully signed "the countryplans team" (I'm sure the hijacked web URL is automatically placed in there) and are trying to get me to open the attachment or click on a website link.

Don't open these links - delete the email message. Especially don't open the attachments. This is likely spyware or worse!

[DavidLeBlanc]

Spyware? You should be so lucky! They're almost always viruses. Most likely, if you open one, nothing visible will happen, but soon all the people in your address book will get similar types of messages from "you".  

[n74tg]

I am a member of another forum on building and flying RC model airplanes.  We just got the same message on that forum too.  Apparently they are hitting many of the forums right now.

[rwalter]

I'd agree with David. Most likely they are viruses and probably Trojan Horse viruses at that. They are the worst. Like David said you won't even notice them. They also have the capability of downloading additional new viruses onto your system. So once you get one downloader trojan virus you become infected with many more automatically. I work as a network technician from time to time and this viruses are the worst.

[Daddymem]

It is a new variant of a Trojan:
http://www.theregister.com/2005/07/08/trojan_downloader_spam/
As IT support I have gotten hundreds of messages pertaining to this one.  It is great to be admin and get an email from admin saying my account is going to be suspended  
update your antivirus if you have one and if you don't then shame on you, go here:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

[Amanda_931]

Trend Micro's House Call, with or without their new spy-ware module is a way of checking--and removing--what's on your computer right now.  And it's free.  But it takes maybe 45 minutes to run with the spyware search, and it doesn't look like it's doing anything while it's doing it.  Might be less on something other than dial-up.

It's not a substitute for your own virus protection, but if your computer is behaving strangely, it might be worth running on the grounds that yours might be a couple of hours slow in getting its protection up.

Norton's been reporting a lot of trojan horses lately, maybe one from "here."